VR Duelists
by Count Morningstar
Summary: When Blair is asked to test out a new virtual simulation pod for Kaiba Corp, things go totally awry and she becomes trapped in the virtual world of the simulation. To save Blair, the pod's developer asks Jaden, Aster, and a few others to go into the virtual world and save her. But as the heroes brave the simulation, they encounter an enemy that they do not expect.
1. Prologue

**Introduction:** Some of my regular followers who may be reading this are probably wondering why I'm working on this story instead of the next chapter of my current ZEXAL story, _The Millennium Tournament_. It's kind of a long story, but basically I was having some writer's block with the next duel for the aforementioned story when some stressful events regarding my current online class and other stuff in my personal life all seemed to happen all at once. Any drive I had to keep working on _The Millennium Tournament_ was pretty much killed during those events. Another result was that I ended up more or less reflecting on the state of a lot of my current writing projects and whether or not I'll ever actually be able to finish some of them. Basically I kind of ended up in sort of a dark place.

Then a couple of weeks ago, something happened that rekindled my energy for my old GX Journeys project. So for the immediate future, I've decided to go ahead and get back to work on this series for the immediate future. At the same time, I'm also going to try and figure out a new and better way to balance my writing with all the other stuff going on in my life right now. Which means that updates to this story may be a little bit slow, but hopefully not by much. As for _The Millennium Tournament_ , I'll get back to that story when I'm ready. Anyway, sorry for the long intro. On with the show!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Prologue

It was fairly early in the morning as Dr. Alec Flynn stood in the control room of his laboratory. On the other side of the window he was looking through was a large chamber with metal-grey walls lined with pieces of electronic equipment. In the center of the chamber was a round grey pillar that had six blue metal pods with glass lids surrounding it. Inside the pod facing the window was the form of a young woman with long dark-blue hair wearing a white and blue Duel Academy uniform. This young woman was Blair Flannigan, a top ranked student from the Kaiba Corp Duel Academy who had volunteered to help with Alec's project.

Inside the pod, Blair appeared to be unconscious. But her mind was actually fully active inside a simulated virtual world made of ones and zeros. Blair had been inside that virtual world for the last five hours.

Alec turned to one of his assistants in the control room, a woman with tan skin and long dark hair sitting at a computer. "How's she doing, Rita?"

"Her vitals are still stable." Rita answered. "Everything is functioning normally."

Alec nodded and turned to another of his assistants in the right back corner of the control room, a fairly young man with dark skin wearing glasses. "Randy, can you tell how far along she is?"

"She's just cleared the second to last stage of the simulation." Randy answered as he looked at his screen. "I'm surprised she's gotten this far already."

"Chancellor Shepard did say he had sent us one of his best students to test out this simulator." Alec pointed out. "Still, I'm surprised she got this far so quickly considering how young she is."

"This girl's talent aside, this seems to prove that the simulator works." Rita pointed out. "It appears Mr. Kaiba's fears about this project were misplaced."

"Indeed. Now that the design flaws of Mr. Kaiba's original virtual simulation pods have been corrected, Duel Academies may now have a brand new training tool to us." Alec replied. "All we have to do now is wait for the current simulation to end."

* * *

Blair was walking through a desolate mountain landscape under a sky covered completely by thick dark clouds. She couldn't tell just how long she had been walking, though it had to have been at least an hour. During the whole trek, Blair had encountered several monsters that she either had to hide from or do battle with. She had hidden herself more often than going into battle on that level. All the monsters there were fairly powerful Fiends, and the battles with them had already taken her life points down to 2300. Considering that she was going to be facing the final boss of the simulation fairly soon, Blair knew that she needed to conserve as much of her life points as possible.

At long last, Blair reached the site of a large dark imposing castle. The young dueling prodigy pushed the large castle doors open and went inside, hoping very much that there weren't any nasty surprises waiting for her. Blair quickly found herself standing before a large staircase that she assumed lead up to the throne room. She went up there, thinking that the final boss would be waiting there. As Blair ascended the staircase, she wondered just who her next simulated opponent was going to be. She had already gone up against some of the strongest duelists from the original Duelist Kingdom and Battle City tournaments, which meant her final opponent was probably going to be a simulation of an extra powerful duelist.

As soon as Blair reached the top of the stairs, she pushed open the doors to the throne room. Inside, she saw a figure sitting on the throne on the far opposite side of the room. Blair walked inside, causing the large doors behind her to slam shut. The dueling prodigy flinched at the loud slamming noise of the doors, but quickly composed herself. She needed to focus if she was going to win against her next opponent.

"Whoever you are, I've come to take you down!" Blair declared. "So let's get this started!"

"Well, well. I certainly wasn't expecting you to be the one to come face me, Blair." The figure sitting atop the throne spoke in a very familiar voice. "This makes things even better for me."

Before Blair could ask her virtual opponent what he was talking about, he rose from his throne and stepped into the dim light streaming in through one of the windows lining the throne room walls. Blair became utterly shocked upon seeing who the virtual young man was.

"No… no way!" Blair exclaimed. "Dr. Alec said that…"

"You just challenged me to a duel, right?" the young man asked as he activated his duel disk. "I think we should get going."

* * *

Alec returned to the control room with a cup of coffee in his hand when he looked through the window and saw electrical sparks coming from Blair's pod. Red warning lights and alarm sounds began to go off inside the control room less than a second later.

"What's going on?" Alec asked his two assistants.

"Unknown!" Rita answered. "There's some kind of power surge and I can't find what's causing it!"

"I've just lost the data feed from the simulation!" Randy reported. "We're now totally blind as to what's going on in there!"

"Dammit!" Alec cursed. "It looks like we have no choice. Abort the simulation now!"

Randy tried pressing a large red button next to his keyboard three times, but nothing happened. "We can't! It seems we've lost all control of the system!"

"What about Ms. Flannigan's vitals?" Alec asked.

"Her heart rate's up, but she doesn't seem to be in any real danger at the moment." Rita answered. "Still, with the simulation now out of control, there's no telling what could happen."

"What do we do now sir?" Randy asked.

"You and Rita start figuring out a way to regain control." Alec ordered. "In the meantime, it looks like I'm going to need to make a few calls."

"You're going to inform HQ?" Rita asked.

"I don't really have a choice, now do I?" Alec replied. "The fact is we need help. If we can't get Ms. Flannigan out from the outside, then we may need to send people in to go get her."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I was actually a little hesitant to bring this story out, what with the "trapped in a video game" genre being a little bit overdone in anime and manga at the moment. Plus I've already done this type of story already with my currently ongoing Yu-Gi-Oh!/Sword Art Online crossover series, so I'm a little bit afraid of repeating myself here. Regardless, I'm going ahead with this thing since it's the story I feel like writing right now. I'll try to be as original as possible.

By the way, Alec's last name Flynn is a not-so-subtle reference to the Tron movies. Anyway, please review and let me know what you think.


	2. A Stop in Miami

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 1: A Stop in Miami

It was a little before noon as Jaden Yuki walked along a sunny boardwalk by a beach in Miami, Florida. The only thing the wandering pro duelist had with him was the black bag he usually carried his duel disk in when it wasn't on his arm, though it seemed that he had brought it for nothing since he could find no one to duel. Jaden stopped at a railing overlooking the beach and sighed as he leaned against it. The only reason he was in Miami at all was because the plane he was taking to New York City had to make a layover due to the pilot getting sick. After he had checked into a hotel and left his cat, Pharaoh in his room, Jaden had decided to take a look around the city, but so far Miami was proving to be a bit of a bore.

"Will you cheer up already?" Jaden's Duel Monster companion, Yubel spoke as she appeared next to him. "This is actually a pretty pleasant place."

"I know. I'm just disappointed that we're not in New York." Jaden replied. "I've really been looking forward to taking part in that Central Park Duel Tournament."

"The tournament's still two days away, and we'll be back in the air tomorrow morning." Yubel pointed out. "So just relax and enjoy yourself."

"I guess you're right." Jaden responded as he cheered up a little. "Maybe I should check out that beach."

Just when Jaden turned around, he ended up bumping into someone. That someone was a young man with slightly long spiked dark-blue hair and pine-green eyes. His outfit consisted of a short-sleeved powder-blue dress shirt with a short red necktie and a brown leather vest, along with a pair of black slacks and polished black shoes. Hanging from the young man's right shoulder by a long strap that went down to his waist was a brown leather bag.

"Sorry 'bout that." Jaden told the stranger.

"No, it's completely my fault." The stranger replied. "I should've been looking where I was going, but my mind was on something else."

Jaden glanced at the young man's bag and saw that it was slightly unzipped. Peeking out was the tip of a metal tray that Jaden recognized as part of a duel disk.

"Say, you wouldn't happen to be a duelist, would you?" Jaden asked.

"Why yes I am, as a matter of fact." The stranger confirmed. "My name is Hiroki Kitami. I'm currently attending a small duel academy back in Japan, but I'm on vacation here visiting a cousin of mine."

"I'm Jaden Yuki." The wandering pro duelist replied. "It's nice to meet you."

"Same." Hiroki replied as he shook Jaden's hand. "Your name actually sounds a bit familiar. Are you a pro duelist?"

"Yep. Though I guess I'm not the most famous one out there." Jaden replied.

"I'm sure that'll change soon enough, Fusion Master." Spoke a familiar voice with a slight accent.

Jaden turned around, and standing a few feet away was another young man with blonde hair wearing sunglasses and a pink red t-shirt with a white jacket that had the sleeves rolled up, along with a pair of black jeans. Jaden recognized the young man as a pro duelist from the U.K. he met during the Astraea Star Cup tournament, Clive Winston.

"Hey Clive!" Jaden enthusiastically greeted. "I sure didn't expect to run into you here."

"Same here, mate." Clive replied as he walked over. "So what brings you to Miami?"

"My plane had to make a layover here." Jaden explained. "I was actually headed for New York. What about you?"

"Just making a stop here to visit an old lady friend of mine." Clive answered. "So who's your friend here?"

"Oh, this guy's a duel academy student I just happened to run into." Jaden replied. "His name's Hiroki Kitami."

"It's nice to meet you, sir." Hiroki greeted with a bow. "If you don't mind me asking, why did you call Jaden the Fusion Master?"

"Why? Because he's the most skilled Elemental Hero user there is." Clive revealed. "There's hardly anyone out there who can match him."

Hiroki's eye twitched upon hearing that Jaden used Elemental Heroes. "You're… a Hero deck user?"

"Um… yeah." Jaden confirmed, noticing how agitated the young duelist suddenly seemed. "Is something wrong?"

With that, Hiroki suddenly jumped backward and pulled his duel disk out of his bag. He glared at Jaden as he put the duel disk on his arm.

"Jaden Yuki! I, Hiroki Kitami, now challenge you to a duel here and now!" the blue-haired young man declared. "I am sorry that it has come to this, but I've made it my mission to crush every Hero user who crosses my path, and you are no exception! Perhaps if things had been different, you and I might've actually become friends. But as it is, I can only regard you now as my nemesis!"

"I have no idea what this is about, but game on!" Jaden replied as he pulled out his own duel disk.

With that, Jaden and Hiroki activated their duel disks and drew their opening hands. Clive quickly moved to another spot to get a better view of the action.

"I'll start this off." Jaden declared as he drew his first card. "I summon Elemental Hero Clayman in Defense Mode and end my turn!"

Materializing on Jaden's side of the battlefield in a kneeling position was a large warrior in smooth yet bulky armor that was primarily dark-grey in cover. Covering the warrior's head was a smooth round red mask with two glass slits over the eyes.

Hiroki drew his first card and smirked slightly. "Looks like fortune is smiling on me in this duel. First I activate the Spell card, Reinforcement of the Army! With this card, I add the level four Queen's Knight to my hand! Next I activate another Spell card, Fusion Sage! Thanks to this card, I can take a Polymerization card from my deck and add it to my hand!"

"Queen's Knight and Polymerization?" Clive spoke with interest. "This should be good."

"I activate Polymerization!" Hiroki announced. "Using this card, I fuse together Queen's Knight, King's Knight and Jack's Knight in my hand to summon Arcana Knight Joker!"

A small transparent vortex appeared in the air above the battlefield. Soon after, three new warriors appeared on Hiroki's side of the field. The first was a woman with long blonde hair wearing red armor. Atop her head was a pointed red and purple helmet decorated with the black mark of a spade on the front. In her left hand, the female warrior carried a sword, and in her right hand was a red diamond-shaped shield decorated with the four different kinds of playing card suites. The second warrior was a man with blonde hair and a beard, wearing gold armor decorated with black and white, along with a crown-like helmet on the top of his head. In his right hand was a sword, and in his left was a round shield. The third and final warrior was a young man with long blonde hair wearing blue armor decorated with black and white markings. On his head was a blue three-pointed crown that had a blue diamond adorning the front. His right hand carried a sword, while his left carried a blue and silver shield that had a gold cross on the front.

Hiroki's three warriors jumped into the air and entered the fusion vortex above. Dropping out of the vortex only seconds later was a new warrior clad in black and white armor. He had long black hair, and on the top of his head was a black crown-like helmet with a small red diamond on the front. Hanging down from around the fused warrior's waist was a sort of long black kilt. In his right hand, the warrior held a long sword, and mounted on his left forearm was a small shield with a short blade protruding from the front end.

"Wow! This is the first time I've seen Arcana Knight Joker used in a duel like this." An impressed Jaden remarked.

"I'm not done yet!" Hiroki continued. "I activate another Spell card, De-Fusion! With this card, I split Arcana Knight Joker back into the three monsters that created him!"

Arcana Knight Joker suddenly glowed with a white light and split apart into three glowing white balls. The spheres soon took the form of the three card-themed knights that had been used for the fusion.

"What the heck?" a confused Clive spoke. "The guy goes to all the trouble to summon one of the rarest and most powerful Fusions out there and then he splits it apart? What gives?"

"The way has now been paved for the instrument of your defeat, Jaden Yuki!" Hiroki declared. "I sacrifice Queen's Knight, King's Knight and Jack's Knight to summon Gilford the Lightning!"

Suddenly a massive bolt of yellow lightning came down from the clear sky and struck Hiroki's side of the field, vaporizing his three card knights in an instant. The light from the blinding flash of the lightning bolt quickly cleared to reveal a new warrior standing on Hiroki's side of the field. The warrior was a large man with muscular bare arms and silver armor covering his torso. On his head was a spiked silver helmet with a mask that covered the top half of his face. A sort of tattered red kilt hung down from around the warrior's waist, and on his back was a long cape made from the same tattered red fabric. Also hanging across the warrior's back was a large sword with a gigantic blade.

"Because Gilford was summoned by sacrificing three monsters instead of two, all monsters on my opponent's side of the field are destroyed!" Hiroki announced.

Gilford drew his large sword and raised it into the air. A bolt of lightning shot from the blade into the sky and came down a moment later to strike Clayman. The stone-armored warrior was vaporized in an instant.

"All that just to destroy one little barrier monster?" a still perplexed Clive observed. "Talk about overkill."

"Now you are at my mercy!" Hiroki declared. "Gilford! Attack Jaden Yuki directly! Lightning Crash Sword!"

Gilford charged at Jaden as the blade of his sword crackled with yellow electricity. With one powerful slash, Jaden was knocked onto his back and his life points dropped to 1200.

"This is the beginning of the end for you, Jaden Yuki!" Hiroki declared. "Now that I have Gilford on the field, there is nothing you can do to win! If I were you, I'd use my next turn to surrender."

"Boy, this guy sure is eager to beat me." Jaden quietly remarked as he got back to his feet.

"Not to mention reckless." Yubel added as she reappeared next to him. "Not only did he just use up his entire hand in his first turn, he totally wasted Arcana Knight Joker. In many ways, it would've been better for this guy to keep Joker on the field instead of blowing Gilford's effect on Clayman."

"Go ahead and make your last move!" Hiroki dared. "I can assure you that nothing you do can turn this situation around."

"You think so, huh?" Jaden replied as he drew his first card. "I summon Elemental Hero Avian in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Jaden's side of the field was a warrior clad in a green bodysuit that looked almost as though it had fur. On his back was a large pair of white-feathered wings, and covering his head was a green mask with a section of red around his eyes.

"And just what good is summoning that weak hero going to do?" Hiroki asked.

"I activate Super Polymerization!" Jaden announced. "By discarding a card from my hand, I can use monsters on my side of the field with monsters on your side of the field for a Fusion Summon!"

"You can what!" Hiroki exclaimed.

"I discard Elemental Hero Bustinatrix from my hand and fuse Avian with your Light monster, Gilford to summon Elemental Hero The Shining!" Jaden announced.

The sky above suddenly became covered in thick dark clouds that quickly swirled into a massive vortex. The phenomenon pulled Avian and Gilford up into the air and sucked them inside. A split second after the two monsters were sucked into the vortex there was a huge flash of light that caused it to disappear. Dropping down from the sky a moment later was a new warrior clad completely in a white bodysuit with golden blade-like ornaments protruding from his lower back and curved upward. On his face, the new hero had a single red gem-like eye.

"No… no way!" a stunned Hiroki spoke. "How can there be a Spell card that can let a duelist fuse his own monsters with his opponent's?"

"I activate another Spell card, Miracle Fusion!" Jaden announced. "By removing Avian and Burstinatrix from the Graveyard, I can use them to Fusion Summon Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!"

Another small vortex appeared in the air above the battlefield. A ghostly version of Avian appeared along with the ghostly image of a grey-haired woman with light-grey skin, wearing a red bodysuit and gold helmet. The two heroes flew into the vortex, and flying out of it soon after was a new hero who was mainly green and black in color and had slightly deformed white wing grew out of the left side of his back. The warrior's right arm was red and had a dragon's head instead of a hand, and on his rear end was a red dragon-like tail.

"Well, looks like that's all she wrote." Clive observed with a small grin.

"The Shining gains 300 ATK for each of my removed from play Heroes." Jaden continued. "Since I just removed Avian and Burstinatrix, Shining's ATK goes up from 2600 to 3200."

"No way! This is impossible!" a still stunned Hiroki declared.

"Flame Wingman! Shining! Attack Hiroki directly!" Jaden commanded. "Flame Shoot and Optical Storm!"

Flame Wingman shot a fireball from his dragon headed arm at Hiroki while The Shining fired a powerful beam of white light from his eye. Both attacks struck Hiroki in the chest and knocked him onto his back. The blue-haired duelist's life points dropped from 4000 to zero in an instant. With the duel over, both of Jaden's heroes vanished.

"That's game!" Jaden declared as he did his trademark victory pose.

"You've done it again, Fusion Master." Clive spoke.

Hiroki got back to his feet with a scowl on his face. Jaden walked over to him to shake his hand.

"That was a pretty good duel." Jaden told him. "Of course you did kind of rush things there with Gilford."

Hiroki slapped Jaden's hand away. "I'm not just going to lay down and die! Get your duel disk ready, because we're doing this again!"

"Whoa! Take it easy." Jaden told him.

"Yeah man. If you wanna challenge Jaden to a rematch, at least wait until tomorrow." Clive suggested.

"Not a chance!" Hiroki told them. "I'm not resting until I've crushed every Hero deck user under my feet! Now get ready and duel!"

"Can't we talk about this?" Jaden asked.

Before the dispute could go any further, a brown car pulled up at the end of the boardwalk. Getting out of it was a man in his late thirties with light brown hair purple eyes. He had on a pair of glasses along with a tweed jacket over a lavender shirt with a pair of tan slacks. Clipped to the left lapel of his jacket was a Kaiba Corp ID badge with his picture on it. The man looked and saw Jaden over with Clive and Hiroki.

"Excuse me." The man spoke as he walked up, getting the attention of Jaden and the others. "Would one of you happen to be Jaden Yuki?"

"I'm Jaden." The wandering pro duelist answered.

"Thank goodness." The man spoke with a relieved sigh. "It's fortunate that we picked up your duel disk signal here in this city, since it saves us from the trouble of sending a jet to get you."

"Um, who are you anyway?" Jaden asked.

"Oh, forgive me. I'm under a great deal of pressure at the moment." The man responded. "I'm Dr. Alec Flynn, a designer for Kaiba Corp. The reason I've tracked you down, Mr. Yuki is that a student from your old academy may be in grave danger. Her name is Blair Flannigan."

"Blair's in trouble?" an alarmed Jaden asked. "What happened?"

"It'll take time to fully explain, but the short version is she's currently trapped inside a new version of Kaiba Corp's old virtual simulation pods that I've developed." Alec answered. "We've been trying unsuccessfully to get her out since this morning. It seems that the only way to rescue Ms. Flannigan right now is for people to go into the simulation and clear it. That's why I need your help."

"I don't totally understand what's happening, but if you need my help to save Blair, I'm in!" Jaden agreed.

"Count me in too, doc." Clive chimed in. "I'm sure the Fusion Master here could use some backup."

"I have no idea what this is about, but I'm coming too!" Hiroki cut in. "I'm not letting Jaden Yuki out of my sight until we have our rematch!"

"Fine, the more help, the better." Alec agreed. "Now let's be off! Time may be a factor in all this."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** For those of you reading who may be new to this GX fanfic series of mine, Clive Winston is actually an old OC of mine that I first used in the second story I did for this series, a GX/Strawberry Panic crossover called _GX: Dark Queen of Miator_. I've been meaning to bring him and another OC from that story back in this series for ages, but a lot of the stories I had intended to have them show up in never really got off the ground. That's just kind of been the nature of this whole series. As for Hiroki, he's a brand new character that I initially created for comic relief purposes. As for why he has such a burning rage towards Hero deck users, we'll find that out later in the story.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	3. The Simulator Project

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 2: The Simulator Project

Alec drove Jaden and the others out to a small office building that was the Miami branch of Kaiba Corp. During the drive, Jaden had tried to ask Alec more about what was going on, but Alec had told him and the others that the explanations would have to wait for a bit. When the four got to the roof of the building, they found a helicopter that was already warming up. Jaden and the others quickly got into the waiting vehicle and in moments they were in the air. It soon became apparent that they were heading in the direction of the ocean.

"Where's this chopper headed, doc?" Clive asked.

"To a small island not far from shore where my lab is located." Alec answered. "We should be there fairly shortly."

"Now that it looks like we've got some time, why don't you explain to us what all this is about?" Jaden suggested with a very serious expression.

"Yes, of course." Alec agreed. "I'm sorry for not getting into this in the car, but talking and driving are two things I've never been able to do at the same time very well, especially in stressful situations like this one. Now then, I'm guessing at least one of you may have heard about the virtual simulation pods developed by Kaiba Corp many years ago."

"I think I read an article about them once." Hiroki recalled. "It was something in my academy's newsletter about the history of Kaiba Corp."

"The pods were a special project developed by Seto Kaiba himself." Alec continued. "He wanted to develop a totally immersive device that would change the face of gaming for years to come. Unfortunately, there were a few design flaws that proved quite… fatal to the users."

"And you decided to put the Fusion Master's friend in one of those bloody deathtraps?" Clive asked.

"I had not intended for anything like this to happen at all." Alec assured them. "What you have to understand that the pods like the one I asked Ms. Flannigan to test out for me is an updated version of Mr. Kaiba's original designs. I thought if I could correct the design flaws that put the user at risk, I could create a new type of training tool that could be used by duel academies all over the world. It would seem though that my safeguards were not as perfect as I thought they were."

"How did Blair get involved in all this?" Jaden asked.

"She volunteered." Alec answered. "I had gone to your old duel academy and told Chancellor Shepard about my project and how it could help his students. He agreed to help me and let me scout his students for volunteers. Ms. Flannigan was one of the first, and her records indicated that she was one of the best students the academy had. She was the perfect test subject."

"So just what went wrong with this little science project of yours, doc?" Clive asked.

"Unfortunately, we're not really sure." Alec admitted sadly. "Everything was working fine this morning. Ms. Flannigan had cleared most of the levels of the simulation, but just as she was about to try and clear the last level something went terribly wrong. And whatever it is has caused us to lose total access to the simulations controls, including the abort system."

"What I don't understand is, if this is some sort of mechanical problem, what good is brining in Jaden Yuki?" Hiroki asked.

"We're not a hundred percent sure on this, but we think the only way to get Ms. Flannigan out is to send more people into the simulation and clear it." Alec explained. "If it works, the pods will deactivate. And if not, well… let's just hope we're right about this."

"What I'd still like to know is why you picked me to do this." Jaden spoke.

"When I informed Chancellor Shepard of the situation, he told me that you were one of the strongest duelists of your class and thus perfect for the job." Alec explained. "Plus you were in the area, so choosing you seemed like the best option."

"Well if Blair's trouble, I'll do whatever I can to help her." Jaden told him.

"Count me in too." Clive agreed. "I still owe the Fusion Master big for what he did for me during the Astraea Star Cup."

"I still don't understand what all this is about, but I'm helping out too." Hiroki decided. "Whatever this is about, I intend to make sure that Jaden Yuki comes back for our rematch."

"Thank you all for your help." Alec told them. "It might help you to know that you won't be going in alone. I've sent for two other pro duelists to help you. One is someone recommended to me by Chancellor Shepard, and the other is someone I've read extensively about. You'll be meeting them when we get to the lab."

After a few more minutes, the helicopter touched down on a small barren island with a large grey lab complex on it. Alec led Jaden and the others inside, with Hiroki trailing a few steps behind. In moments, the scientist took Jaden and Clive to a small meeting room where they found a young man waiting inside. The young man in question had silver hair and was dressed in a fancy grey suit. Jaden instantly recognized him as one of his old rivals, Aster Phoenix.

"Aster!" Jaden called as he quickly approached. "This is sure a surprise."

"Same here." Aster replied. "I guess you're one of the duelists that I was told would be helping me with this little problem."

"So you know what's going on?" Jaden asked.

"Yeah, one of Dr. Flynn's assistants filled me in on the way here." Aster confirmed.

"Aren't you gonna introduce me, Fusion Master?" Clive chimed in.

"Oh yeah. Aster, this is Clive Winston." Jaden introduced. "He's a friend of mine I met during the Astraea Star Cup. Clive, meet Aster Phoenix."

"It's a pleasure, mate." Clive greeted as he shook Aster's hand. "I've heard a lot about you."

"So just where are these other duelists that are going to…" Hiroki began to ask as he finally entered the room, but he stopped and froze when he saw Aster. "YOU!"

"Oh god." Aster spoke. "What's he doing here?"

"Aster Phoenix!" Hiroki ranted. "It looks like fate is smiling on me today! Not only will I be able to crush Jaden Yuki once this current situation is over, I'll finally be able to take you down as well!"

"So Aster, I'm guessing you and Hiroki know each other?" Jaden quietly asked.

"I ran into him over a year ago when I paid a visit to his academy." Aster explained. "The headmaster there was an old friend of my father's. Anyway, as I was waiting for my cab, Kitami there stepped up and challenged me to a duel. I beat him pretty easily, but then he demanded I give him a rematch right there on the spot. We ended up dueling five times in a row before my finally showed up, and he vowed that if we ever met up again he wouldn't leave me alone until he defeated me and proved his strength."

"At least it's not just me he wants to take down then." Jaden observed.

"Any idea what ol' Hiroki's damage is?" Clive asked Aster.

"No clue." The silver-haired duelist answered. "My guess is he was beaten pretty badly by a duelist who uses a Hero deck once and is trying to make up for it somehow."

"There will be no escape from my this time, Phoenix!" Hiroki declared. "Before this day is out, I will see you groveling before me in defeat!"

"What the hell's with all the noise?" a voice asked from just outside the room.

Walking in only a split second later was a young woman who looked to be about seventeen. She had long straight ocean-blue hair that grew half way down her back and striking orange eyes. Her outfit consisted of a sleeveless blue shirt with buttons down the front, along with a pair of tight black jeans and a pair of boots that appeared to be made out of snakeskin. Her belt had a rectangular buckle engraved with the skull and crossbones symbol of a pirate flag. Around her left upper arm was a tattoo made of several intricate black lines, and mounted on her forearm was a black duel academy-style duel disk with blue trim.

"Well, well." Clive spoke as he looked at the new arrival tried to smooth his hair. "Excuse me, gents. I'm going to go over and introduce myself to that young lady."

"Oh boy." Jaden spoke as Clive approached the young woman.

"Does he do this kind of thing often?" Aster asked.

"Yep." Jaden confirmed.

"Hello there, beautiful." Clive greeted in a suave manner. "What's an angel like you doing in a place like this?"

"If you don't step away from me in the next ten seconds, I'm going to shove those sunglasses of yours so far up your nose that you'll be wearing them on your brain." The bluenette warned.

Clive flinched and saw the icy glare that the young woman was giving him. He immediately went back over to where Jaden and Aster were standing.

"Well, it seems that the final member of this expedition has arrived." Alec observed. "Everyone, this is Lena Rogers, the other pro duelist I asked to come here."

"Oh man! That's Lena Rogers?" Clive quietly spoke. "If I had known that, I probably would've kept my distance just now."

"You've heard of her?" Jaden asked him.

"So have I." Aster revealed. "She's an infamous prize hunter, not to mention a ruthless one. Most people call her the Pirate Queen."

"Hey doc. That flunky of yours said there'd only be two other duelists in this gig." Lena told Alec. "This better not mean I'll be getting a smaller payout."

"I don't what you've been told, but I'm doing this to help a friend of mine." Jaden told Lena. "I've got no interest in money."

"Works for me." Lena replied with a shrug. "All I know is I was asked to go into some fancy videogame and that I was gonna get paid for it. If you're no in this for the money, fine with me."

"Well, now that everyone's here, I better tell you about the world you're all going to enter." Alec began. "The simulation consists of five stages or levels, each one with a different environment and it's own unique set of challenges you'll have to beat in order to advance. One of those challenges comes in the form of random encounters with creatures from the Duel Monsters card game."

"I'm guessing we can just summon our own monsters to take them out." Clive assumed.

"Correct. You can summon any monster you draw from your main deck, regardless of its level." Alec confirmed. "You can also use any Spell cards you pull from your decks as well. However, battles with these monster encounters will work a bit differently than monster battles from the normal play of a duel that you're all used to. In addition to the ATK and DEF points that the monsters have on their cards, they'll also have an HP gage. Damage to a monster's HP is determined by the difference between the ATK points of the monster attacking it and its own DEF points. I should also add that if a monster you control is destroyed while out in the field, you'll take life point damage like you would in a normal duel, and your life points would not reset until you reached the level."

"What happens if our life points reach zero while we're playing this 'game' of yours?" Hiroki asked.

"Well… that's hard to say." Alec replied. "If everything was working properly, the simulation would simply end and the pod would deactivate. But as things are obviously not working the way they're supposed to…"

"Losing all our life points could be fatal." Aster deduced, finishing Alec's sentence.

"Yes… that may very likely be the case." Alec confirmed.

"I better be getting a huge payday from this job." Lena remarked.

"Now then, I should also explain the 'boss battles' of this simulation." Alec continued. "At the end of each level in order to advance, you'll have to win a duel against a simulated opponent. These duels will be just like a normal duel; only there will be a special field condition in play. As for these opponents you'll be facing, each of them is a simulation of a formidable duelist from the past."

"Wait, so does that mean we'd facing virtual versions of duelist like Seto Kaiba or even Yugi Muto?" Jaden asked.

"Actually, because the simulator is so new, we decided to use virtual versions of duelists who would be a little easier to defeat." Alec revealed. "But yes, you've gotten the general idea. One of my goals for this project was to allow young duelists the chance to hone their skills by facing some of the most legendary figures from the game's past, or at least a close approximation of them."

"I gotta admit that the chance to go up against legendary duelists like that would be pretty cool." Clive remarked. "Even if they were just fake versions made my some computer."

"Yeah, yeah. So are we going to do this thing, or are we just going to sit around and talk?" Lena asked.

"If you'll all follow me, I'll take you to the simulator room." Alec told them.

Just then, a ringing noise could be heard inside the room. Jaden soon realized that the sound was coming from the smart phone in his pocket. He pulled out the phone and saw from the ID that the person calling was his girlfriend, Alexis Rhodes.

"Oh boy. Sorry guys, but I have to take this." Jaden told them.

"Seriously?" Lena complained.

"I'll just be a sec." Jaden assured them.

"You better." Lena grumbled.

Jaden put the phone to his ear. "Hi Lex. What's up?"

 _"Hi. Just wanted to see how you were doing."_ Alexis replied on the other end. _"How's New York."_

"Actually I'm not in New York right now. I'm in Miami." Jaden informed him. "Look Lex, I'm afraid I don't have a lot of time to talk right now. Blair's in trouble right now and I need to go help her."

 _"Wait, our Blair?"_ a suddenly alarmed Alexis asked. _"What happened?"_

"It's a long story involving this new virtual simulation pod." Jaden answered. "I'd tell you about it, but I'm kinda pressed for time right now."

 _"I understand."_ Alexis replied. _"Just call me when Blair's safe."_

"Will do." Jaden agreed. "Talk to you later."

 _"I love you."_ Alexis told him.

"Love you too." Jaden replied. "Bye." With that, he hung up.

"Who was that, Fusion Master?" Clive asked.

"Uh, that was my girlfriend." Jaden answered.

"Wait a minute, was that Alexis Rhodes you were talking to?" Aster asked.

"Yeah. We're kinda doing the long distance thing right now, what with her training to be a teacher." Jaden revealed. "Anyway, we should get going and save Blair."

With that, Alec led Jaden and the others out of the meeting room and took them to the large chamber where the simulation pods were kept. Immediately, Jaden spotted the pod that Blair was in. He stepped up to the pod and looked at the unconscious form of his younger friend. It seemed as though she was sleeping peacefully, though Jaden was certain that she was probably experiencing terror in the virtual world she was in.

"Don't worry, Blair. We'll get you out of there soon." Jaden told her.

Alec then helped Jaden and the others get into the vacant pod and showed them how to place their decks inside the deck reader built into the right arm inside the pod's reclined chair. As soon as Jaden and the others were in, built-in helmets covered their heads and the transparent glass lids of the pods closed over them.

 _"We're going to activate your pods now."_ Alec told the team over an intercom. _"You'll be inside the simulation in three… two… one."_

With that, Jaden suddenly saw a long tunnel of light open up before his eyes. He was quickly on his way to the virtual world.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I hope this chapter wasn't too dull for anyone. I needed to do a little bit of exposition to set the rest of this story up, plus introduce another character.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	4. Stage One

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 3: Stage One

Jaden emerged from the tunnel of light to find that he was standing in the middle of a beach on a deserted tropical island. A gentle breeze hit his face and he could smell the salt air of the ocean. In the distance, Jaden could even hear the sound of seagulls flying above. It was hard to believe that the place he was standing in at that moment was nothing more than a computer simulation. After a moment, Jaden finally looked back and saw the rest of the team had arrived on the beach as well, taking in the very real virtual environment just like he was.

"Well, I guess we're here." Jaden observed. "Now what?"

In answer to his question, a beam of blue light suddenly shot up from beneath a small green shrub on the ground not to far from where he was. Jaden looked down and saw that a grey mechanical sphere hidden beneath the small plant was projecting the beam, which soon formed into a holographic screen.

"Welcome duelists to stage one of this simulation, Ocean of Paradise." Spoke the female voice of a computer. "To advance to stage two, you must defeat the opponent residing in the Sea Breeze Palace located on a small island on the other side of the island you now stand on."

At this, the screen changed to show a map of the large island Jaden and the others were on and the surrounding ocean. A yellow dot began to flash on a smaller island that appeared to be close to the main island that they were on.

"In order to gain access to the Sea Breeze Palace, you must first obtain the item known as the Tear of Atlantis, located in this area of the ocean." The computer continued.

A red dot then began to flash on a part of the map that looked to be just open water. The spot was on the opposite location from there the Sea Breeze Palace was.

"The item is guarded by a powerful monster." The computer continued. "You must first defeat the monster in order to obtain this island. There is no time limit to complete this mission. Good luck."

With that, the holographic screen vanished. Jaden and the others turned to each other to try and figure out how to proceed.

"Is it just me, or could that quest have been given to us in a flashier way?" Clive spoke. "You know, like maybe it could've been explained to us by a sexy Duel Monster. Dark Magician Girl springs to mind."

"Oh gimme a break." Lena responded as she rolled her eyes.

"This simulator was designed as a duel academy training tool, so it's not surprising that parts of it would be a little bare-bones." Aster pointed out. "Plus it is still in the testing stages."

"Look, forget about all that! What I'd like to know now is how the hell we're supposed to get this key." Lena pointed out.

Hiroki glanced back and saw some kind of disturbance out in the middle of the vast ocean. Going to the edge of the beach, Hiroki looked out and saw something rising from the water.

"Everyone, look!" Hiroki called, getting everyone's attention.

Jaden and the others rushed over to the edge of the beach and saw in the distance what appeared to be a giant blue clamshell supported by a Roman pillar. Shining from inside the shell was a brilliant blue light like a sapphire.

"I guess that's where we're supposed to go." Jaden assumed.

"Any ideas on how we're supposed to get there?" Lena asked.

Clive looked to his right and saw an old wooden boat resting on the shore. "Hey guys. Maybe we could take that thing."

The team looked over to inspect the old wooden rowboat. There were no holes in the bottom of the hull and was just big enough to fit all five of them.

"Looks like this boat's our only option." Aster observed.

"So who's going to row this thing then?" Clive asked.

After a bit of discussion amongst the members of the team, they set off in the boat towards the giant clamshell. Clive and Hiroki ended up manning the oars while Jaden and the others were at the head of the boat.

"Tell me again why we're the ones stuck rowing this thing?" Hiroki asked Clive.

"Because mate, compared to us, Fusion Master and the others are the big guns here." Clive explained. "The doc said there'd be wild monsters running around in this game, so it makes sense that they should handle taking 'em out while we're out here on the high seas."

"Oh please. When it comes to battle, I can outdo Jaden Yuki and Aster Phoenix any day of the week!" Hiroki confidently declared.

"Then explain to me why you keep losing to them." Clive retorted.

"They're just on a lucky streak! That's all!" Hiroki told him.

"If you say so." Clive responded.

"Can't you dweebs go any faster?" Lena impatiently asked. "At this rate, it's gonna take us forever to get to that damn key, or whatever it is. Not to mention even longer to get to that damn castle."

"It's not like we really had any other options though." Jaden pointed out. "We're just going to have to be patient."

Suddenly three objects burst out of the water up ahead and began to fly towards the team. They quickly saw that the objects were actually large flying fish with pinkish bodies and green heads and fins. Inside their pink-lipped mouths were rows of sharp teeth.

"Flying Fish? One of the weakest junk cards in the game?" Lena identified. "Those are the enemy monsters that the doc warned us about?"

"I'll handle this!" Jaden declared as he drew an opening hand from his duel disk. "I summon Elemental Hero Neos!"

Appearing in the air over the boat was a green-eyed warrior clad completely in a white alien body suit. Parts of his suit were dark-blue and his hands were black. A red line ran over parts of the warrior's body, and in the center of his chest was a dark-blue gemstone. Three red triangles surrounded the stone on his chest with the points facing away. There were white spikes on his elbows that curved upward, and another large white spike that curved backward grew from the top of the warrior's head.

"Neos, take out those Flying Fish!" Jaden commanded. "Wrath of Neos!"

The white hero of space flew forward and punched the first Flying Fish in the snout. An HP gauge appeared by the fish as it spiraled backward through the air and dropped to zero. With its HP depleted, the fish shattered into bits of light and vanished. Neos quickly punched out the second Flying Fish as the first one shattered to nothing, causing the same thing to happen again. The third fish rammed into Neos's chest, only to bounce off and for its HP gauge to drop by almost half. Neos hit the remaining fish with a roundhouse kick that caused it to shatter apart.

"Well that was easy." Jaden remarked.

"Those Flying Fish must all have 2000 hit points each, since Neos was able to take them out with a single strike." Aster deduced. "And that third fish took recoil damage because Neos's DEF was higher than its 800 ATK."

"I get it. It's like all these wild monsters we encounter all have their own life points." Jaden realized.

Just then, Lena spotted four more Flying Fish burst out of the water up ahead. "Looks like we've got more junk monsters incoming."

"I think I'll get in on this." Aster decided as he drew his own opening hand. "I summon Destiny Hero – Dogma!"

Appearing by Neos was a large muscular warrior clad in a black and grey bodysuit. On his back was a massive pair of bat-like wings, and on his head was a mask with two white horns and four red eyes. The warrior's wings were connected to his large spiked shoulder pads by a pair of iron-grey chains, and embedded in both of his forearms were two sword-like blades.

"Dogma, take out those Flying Fish!" Aster commanded.

"You too, Neos!" Jaden ordered.

Dogma flew towards two of the fish and extended the blade and his right arm. With a single swing, the dark hero cut two of the fish in half, while Neos easily dispatched the other two.

"This is turning out to be a real piece of cake." Clive declared.

Suddenly bursting out of the water to their right was a large grey and white shark that seemed to hover in the air. The shark had a muscular upper body and a pair of arms that had hands with webbed fingers.

"A Great White!" Aster identified.

"I've got this one!" Hiroki declared as he stood from his seat and drew a hand from his duel disk. "I summon Jack's Knight!"

The blonde prince of the playing card knights appeared in the air to do battle. As soon as he appeared though, the Great White lunged over and took a bite into his arm. Jack's Knight managed to throw the man-shark loose, but he had lost a chunk out of his HP as a result of the attack.

"I equip Jack's Knight with the Spell card, Lightning Blade!" Hiroki announced. "This card not only raises the ATK of Jack's Knight by 800 points, it also decreases the power of all Water monsters on the field!"

The sword of Jack's Knight transformed and began to crackle with electricity. The electrical bolts from the sword shot off and struck Great White, causing it to roar in pain.

"Jack's Knight, turn that Great White into sushi!" Hiroki commanded. "Electric Straight Slash!"

Jack's Knight charged in and slashed Great White across the chest. A glowing red gash appeared in the man-shark's chest and its HP took a steep drop into the red zone.

"Neos, finish Great White off!" Jaden commanded. "Wrath of Neos!"

Neos flew back over to the boat and delivered a strong punch to the side of the man-shark's head. Great White's HP dropped to zero and its body shattered to bits.

"I did not need your help taking out that monster!" Hiroki told Jaden.

"C'mon Hiroki. In a situation like this, we need to work together." Jaden responded.

"This is stupid." Lena declared. She then drew a hand from her duel disk. "I'm gonna try something. I summon Amphibious Bugroth MK-3!"

Appearing in the air on the right side of the boat was a red robotic submarine-like vehicle with a transparent cockpit on the top that showed a single black seat. On the underside of its front half was a pair of mechanical arms, and extending from the sides were two short limbs that could be described as legs. On the underside of the vehicle's rear half were two long grey fins, and mounted on top were two grey tanks that appeared to be thrusters. Written on the side of the left thruster in red was the designation, Mk-3. The red vehicle dropped into the water, causing a large splash that jostled the boat.

"Hey Bugroth! Open your cockpit and let me in!" Lena ordered.

Bugroth's transparent cockpit opened up on command. Lena jumped out of the boat and landed safely inside her vehicle monster.

"Lena, what're you doing?" Jaden asked.

"Something I should've done from the start." Lena answered as she sat down and strapped herself in. "I'm ditching you losers and going solo. Later."

With that, Bugroth's cockpit closed and Lena zoomed off across the water. In seconds she became nothing but a small speck in the distance as she headed for the giant clamshell.

"Why didn't any of us think of doing that?" Hiroki asked.

"It's because with the exception of our now departed Pirate Queen, all of us have warrior decks of some kind." Clive pointed out. "Well, I have warriors with a few machines mixed in, but none of them would make a good transport across this ocean."

"We can't let Lena go off by herself like that." Jaden told the others. "Whatever monster's guarding that key, it's probably tougher than anything we've encountered so far."

"But how would we even catch up with her?" Aster asked. "That Bugroth of hers is pretty fast."

Jaden looked at his hand for a moment to think and an idea suddenly dawned on him. "I think I may have a way."

* * *

It was a little under four minutes by the time Lena and her Bugroth came within striking distance of the clamshell. Just as Lena had thought, she was doing far better on her own than she was with the other members of her so-called team. She felt that Jaden and Aster were okay, but the other two were idiots that got on her nerves. Besides, Lena had always done better on her own than as part of some group. After all, Duel Monsters was usually a solo sport with the exceptions of tag duels and those weird asymmetrical duels she had read about. Plus Lena had learned from many hard years on the street that the only person she could truly depend upon was herself.

Within a few more moments, Lena had reached the clamshell. As soon as she did though, the sky suddenly became dark with heavy storm clouds. The wind and the waves began to pick up, and rain began to fall. Suddenly bursting out of the water between Bugroth and the clamshell was a massive two-headed sea serpent that was mainly blue in color. One of the heads was a lighter color than the other. Two red fins grew on the sides of the creature's darker-colored head head, along with a taller fin along the serpent's back. As soon as the beast appeared, three HP gauges appeared next to it.

"Ocean Dragon Lord – Neo-Deadalus? That's the monster they put in charge of guarding that damn key?" Lena exclaimed. "Those idiot designers! Oh well. Guess it's time to throw down. I activate the Ritual Spell, Turtle Oath!"

Appearing in the air above Bugroth was a large green turtle shell with a thick rope tied around it in a ceremonial fashion. Hanging from the front of the rope were three long paper ornaments.

"From my hand, I offer up the level four Gagagigo and Mermaid Knight to summon the Ritual Monster, Crab Turtle!" Lena announced.

Two new monsters appeared in the air in front of the turtle shell. The first was a mermaid with long wild red hair and a green tail. Blue armor covered her torso and the upper parts of her tail, and on her left arm was a shield. In her right hand, the mermaid carried a sword with a transparent rainbow-colored blade. The other monster was a well-muscled humanoid lizard wearing long yellow pants. Two bolts of lightning shot from the floating shell and vaporized Lena's two new monsters. Another more massive bolt of lighting came down from above and struck the shell.

The light faded, and standing in the water behind Bugroth was a very large bipedal monster with a mostly red crab-like body. Its head was a single monstrous yellow eye and its arms were the red arms of a crab. The creature's lower legs were green, and on its back was a green shell with two red crab legs on each side. While Crab Turtle was large and had an ATK of 2550, it was dwarfed by the size of Neo-Deadalus.

"Okay Dragon Lord, let's dance!" Lena spoke.

* * *

Jaden and the others sped over the water thanks to a short warrior in blue armor pushing the boat from behind. On his back, the warrior had a white cape and a pair of water tanks on his back. The monster in question was one Jaden's Heroes, Elemental Hero Bubbleman. Thanks to Bubbleman providing a means of propulsion, Jaden and the rest of the team had nearly caught up to Lena and Bugroth. Though the rough ocean waves were making it a bumpy ride.

"Bubbleman may not be as fast as Lena's Bugroth, but we're far better off than before, speed-wise." Aster observed.

"The nerve of that woman holding out on us like that." Hiroki remarked. "She probably has a whole deck full of monsters that we could've used as transportation across this ocean."

"Guys, look!" Jaden called as he pointed out over the waves.

In the distance, the team could see Crab Turtle fighting with Neo-Deadauls. The two-headed sea monster had lost most of its first HP gauge and was currently firing a beam of blue light from the mouth of its right head at Crab Turtle. Lena's sea monster was hit in the chest and withstood the attack, losing only a small amount of HP. Crab Turtle counterattack with a blast of yellow electricity from its eye, striking the sea serpent in the chest. Neo-Deadalus lost the rest of its first HP gauge and a portion of its second.

"They've got the strongest water monster in the entire game guarding that key." Clive observed.

"Lena seems to be doing fairly okay against it though." Hiroki pointed out.

"The problem is that Neo-Deadalus has a lot more HP than Lena's Crab Turtle." Aster pointed out. "It's only a matter of time before it gets defeated."

"Then we have to help her out!" Jaden told the others. "Neos! Move in and attack Neo-Deadalus!"

Neos nodded at Jaden and flew full speed towards the sea serpent. Meanwhile, Neo-Deadalus had turned its attention to Bugroth and wiped its tail at the robot vehicle. Bugroth was knocked into the air, only to crash back into the water. Lena was shaken up a bit and her vehicle had lost over half its HP. Before Neo-Daedauls could launch another attack, Neos flew in and punched the side of its left head, causing its second HP gauge to drop even further. Nee-Deadalus ignored the attack and struck Bugroth again with its tail. The robot sub was hurled back into the air and its HP dropped to zero, causing it to shatter to bits.

Before Lena hit the water, Neos swooped in and caught her took her back to the boat. Meanwhile, Dogma and Jack's Knight and begun their own attacks against Neo-Deadalus. After Neos set Lena back in the boat, he took off to go back and fight the sea serpent.

"Are you okay?" Jaden asked Lena.

"I think so." Lena answered. "Thanks for the save. I guess I owe you one."

"Don't worry about it. We're a team, right?" Jaden responded.

"It doesn't look like Neo-Deadalus is going to go down easily." Aster observed. "I'm surprised that Blair was able to get through this level on her own."

"Yeah, me too." Jaden replied. "I wonder how she did it?"

"Maybe Blair found another way to take down Neo-Deadalus besides attacking it." Yubel suggested to Jaden as she appeared behind him. "After all, there are ways to take down a powerful monster other than a battle in a normal duel."

Jaden looked again at his current hand. "That's it! Lena, if you don't mind, I need to use your Crab Turtle for something."

"Go on ahead." Lena agreed.

Jaden nodded and drew another card. "I activate Polymerization! By fusing my Elemental Hero Bubbleman with Lena's water monster, Crab Turtle, I summon Elemental Hero Absolute Zero!"

A vortex appeared in the middle of the water and pulled in Crab Turtle and Bubbleman. Flying out of the vortex a moment later was a warrior clad in white ice-like armor and had a white cape hanging from his back.

"I hope this works." Jaden spoke. "I activate the Spell card, Mask Change! With this card, I use Absolute Zero to summon Masked Hero Vapor! And when Absolute Zero leaves the field, all of the opponent's monsters are destroyed!"

Absolute Zero placed his right hand on his mask, causing it to glow with a blue light. The light spread down the rest of the hero's body as he flipped through the air. The light faded, and in place of Absolute Zero was a warrior in blue and aqua-grey armor and a mask with red, insect-like eyes. In his right hand, the new warrior carried a spear. Suddenly and icy wind spread out from Vapor and struck Neo-Deadalus. The two-headed sea serpent became completely frozen in ice and its remaining HP dropped to zero. Neo-Deadalus shattered to bits and the sky above cleared. Soon after, all of the monsters that Jaden and the others had out vanished.

"Looks like our decks were reset once Neo-Deadalus was defeated." Aster noted.

"Our life points are still the same though." Lena pointed out as she looked at her duel disk. Her life point counter read 2400.

"In any case, it looks like Blair probably weakened Neo-Deadalus using card effects when she fought this level." Jaden assumed. "Guess we should keep that in mind for later."

Suddenly the blue light from the clamshell flew down towards the boat. The ball of light stopped in front of Jaden and turned into a golden key with a egg-shaped sapphire embedded in the handle.

"Seems we got what we came here for." Clive observed.

"Yeah, but its going to take us forever to get to that castle with only this rowboat." Hiroki pointed out.

"Actually, I think I can help with that." Lena told them. "I summon Orca Mega Fortress of Darkness!"

Suddenly emerging from the water nearby was a gigantic killer whale. On the front of its head was silver armor plating with missile ports embedded in it.

"Well, what're we waiting for? Let's go." Lena told them.

"Now we're talking!" Clive declared.

Within moment, Jaden and the others got onto the orca's back. On Lena's command, the whale took off towards the castle where their next big battle awaited.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I had a bit of experience before doing battles like the monster fights in this chapter thanks to my experience writing the _Yu-Gi-Oh! Online_ stories. Of course for this story I had to come up with a slightly different way to go about them in this story. Anyway, Lena kind of ended up being at the center of this chapter. We'll find out a little bit more about her in the chapter that's to come.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	5. Pirate Queen

**Author's Note:** I've just finished the second to last week of my current online class, which is the big reason why those of you reading are only seeing this chapter now. The other reason is I had to do a lot of yard work.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 4: Pirate Queen

The voyage to the Sea Breeze Castle and the end of the first stage of the simulation was proving to be a calm one. Lena's cybernetic orca had a bridge compartment built into the armor around its fin that Jaden and the others decided to ride in for the trip. Since they had set off for the castle, there had been no attacks by aquatic monsters. This gave Jaden and the rest of the team a chance to rest and prepare for the coming battle with simulated duelist that acted as the boss of their current level. While Aster, Clive and Hiroki talked amongst themselves to try and get to know each other, Jaden had gone to the back of the bridge where Lena had been keeping to herself.

"Hey." Jaden spoke, getting the blue-haired girl's attention.

"What do you want?" Lena asked.

"Just wanted to see how you were doing." Jaden answered.

"I'm okay." Lena replied. "You know… I still don't get why you, Phoenix and those two dweebs went to all that trouble to come to my rescue."

"I told you, we're a team." Jaden reminded her. "The best way to get through this virtual world is to work together."

"I'll admit that working together did help us get that key, but teaming up with others isn't exactly my style." Lena told him. "The only person I've ever really been able to count on is myself. It's been that way ever since I was seven when my parents died and I was tossed around the foster care system like a piece of trash. No one looked out for me or gave a damn about me, so I had to make it on my own."

"Sounds like you had a pretty rough life." Jaden observed. "But I want you to know that the next time things get rough, you can always count on me."

"…Whatever." Lena responded. "I'm gonna go see what those other guys are up to." And with that, Lena walked off.

"Don't be so disappointed." Yubel told a slightly glum Jaden as she appeared next to him. "People like Lena don't warm up to others easily."

"I just thought maybe after what happened during the battle with Neo-Deadalus, she'd be a bit, you know… nicer." Jaden replied.

"Well, she did open up to you a little bit before by mentioning her troubled childhood." Yubel pointed out. "I'm guessing that's not something she shares with just anyone."

"You got a point there." Jaden replied with a small smile.

Eventually the orca reached a small island with a large castle made of powder-blue stone. As soon as the whale reached the island's shore, Jaden and the others disembarked. Once they got off Orca Mega Fortress of Darkness, it disappeared and Lena's deck reset itself. The team then approached the two large golden doors on the front of the castle.

"Well, I guess we should go in." Jaden decided as he took the key to the doors from his pocket.

"Wait a sec, Fusion Master. Before we go in, maybe we should decide who's going to duel the virtual duelists that's waiting inside for us." Clive suggested.

"I'll do it!" Hiroki declared. "Who or whatever is waiting for us behind those doors, I'll take them down no problem."

"Why don't we see who it is we're up against first and then decide?" Aster suggested.

"Works for me." Jaden agreed.

With that, Jaden inserted the key in the lock and turned it. The moment he did, the key turned to blue polygons and vanished and the doors swung inward of their own accord. Inside the castle was a large square pool that seemed to be fill with water from the ocean outside. Standing on the other side of the pool was a young-looking man with tan skin and long wild black hair. He had a long narrow scar on his face, and on his forehead was a pair of scuba goggles. The young man wore no shirt and had on a pair of black swim trunks. He had an old style Kaiba Corp duel disk on his left arm, and across his back was a harpoon that was held in place by a brown leather strap was a harpoon.

"Well, well. Looks like I've reeled in a pretty big catch." The young man observed. "You've all done well to get this far, but it all ends here! I am the king of this ocean, Mako Tsunami!"

"Mako Tsunami? He was the top water duelist in Japan back in the early days of the game." Hiroki recalled. "He was good enough to make it to Duelist Kingdom and even did well in Battle City."

"The guy was never a finalist in either of those tournaments though." Lena pointed out.

"So, which of you five is going to face me?" Mako asked. "Keep in mind, you'll probably all get a chance, since each duel will end in your defeat."

"I'll do it." Lena decided.

"Lena, are you sure about this?" Jaden asked.

"Dr. Flynn said our life points wouldn't reset until we reached the next level." Aster reminded her. "That means you'll be starting this duel with 2400 life points while Mako will start with a full 4000."

"I know that, but I'm also the best person to beat him because I'm a water duelist too." Lena told them. "That means he wouldn't have the same advantage over me that he would over you guys."

"She's got a point there, mates. Most water duelists like to give themselves an advantage by turning the field into an ocean to give their monsters a boost." Clive pointed out. "It'd probably be best to fight fire with fire, so to speak."

"Well… okay. Be careful, Lena." Jaden told her.

"Please, whether it's the real deal or a virtual copy like this guy, Mako Tsunami's got nothing on me." Lena told the others.

"I'll give you credit for your bravery, stepping up to face me with only 2400 life points." Mako told Lena as she stepped up to the edge of the pool. "But in the end, that will only help to be your undoing."

"Just shut and duel." Lena told him.

With that, both Lena and Mako activated their duel disks. As soon as they did, a blue holographic screen appeared in the air above the middle of the pool.

"Duel initiated." A computerized female voice spoke. "Activating Field Spell effect of Ocean of Paradise. No other Field Spells may be played during this duel."

"Wait, this damn ocean's also a Field Spell?" Lena asked.

"That's right." Mako confirmed as he drew a card. "And as the king of this ocean and castle, I'll be going first. I set one monster on the field! Then I set two cards facedown and end my turn!"

Lena drew her first card. "I play the Spell card, Nobleman of Crossout! This card will remove that set monster of yours from the field from play! And if it's a flip effect monster, we'll both have to remove copies of that same monster from our decks!"

A sword made out of white like suddenly fell from the sky and struck the back of the large card that represented Mako's monster. Upon being hit, the monster turned into a purple penguin-like bird wearing red shoulder armor and vanished.

"Well what do you know? Looks like I was right. The monster you set is Penguin Soldier, just like I guessed." Lena observed. "Of course this means I'll have to remove my Penguin Solider from the deck too, but it's not like I'm going to need it to take someone like you down. For my next move, I activate the Ritual Spell, Advanced Ritual Art! I sacrifice Gagagigo and Sea Serpent Warrior of Darkness from my deck in order to summon Crab Turtle!"

A pillar of green flames shot out from the water of the pool and into the air on Lena's side of the battlefield. Gagagigo along with a fish-like warrior with dark-blue scales and a gold harpoon appeared in the air on both sides of the pillar, only to be turned into green fireballs that were absorbed into the larger flame. The pillar subsided to reveal Lena's one-eyed crab monster.

"Next I summon Mermaid Knight in Attack Mode!" Lena announced. The bluenette's redheaded mermaid warrior appeared on the field next to Crab Turtle.

"So you're a sea duelist as well, I see." Mako observed.

"That's right. And I'm about to plunder all your life points in a single strike!" Lena declared. "Crab Turtle, attack Mako directly! Eye of the Storm!"

"I activate my Trap, Negate Attack!" Mako announced. "This card cancels your attack and ends the Battle Phase!"

Crab Turtle fired a bolt of yellow lightning from its eye down at Mako. Before the attack could strike though, it was sucked into a transparent vortex that appeared in front of Mako.

"It's not going to be so easy to take me down." Mako told her. "You may be a fellow sea duelist, but the ocean is on my side! Because I have its favor, it will be impossible for you to surpass me!"

"We'll just see about that." Lena told him. "I end my turn!"

Mako drew his next card. "I summon Great White in Attack Mode!" An armed shark with a muscular upper body appeared on Mako's side of the field. "And now I use one of the effects of Ocean of Paradise! Once per turn, each of us can tribute summon a Water monster in addition to our regular normal summon each turn. So I sacrifice Great White to summon my most trusted card, Legendary Fisherman!"

Great White shattered into bits of light, and in its place appeared another blue and white shark being ridden by a man with long wild bluish-black hair. He had scars on his body, and hanging from around his waist was a tattered green cloth. In his right hand, the man riding the shark held a harpoon.

"Because Ocean of Paradise is also always treated as the Field Spell, Umi, my Legendary Fisherman gains the same effects he'd have if that card was on the field." Mako revealed. "Legendary Fisherman, attack Crab Turtle! Ultimate Harpoon!"

"Looks like this game has a few bugs." Lena observed. "Crab Turtle has an ATK of 2550. Legendary Fisherman may become nearly invincible while Umi or one of its alternate versions is on the field, but he still only has an ATK of 1850."

"We'll see about that." Mako told her.

Legendary Fisherman threw his harpoon up at Crab Turtle. As the harpoon flew through the air, it began to glow with a brilliant blue aura. The weapon pierced Crab Turtle's chest and burst out through the shell on its back, much to Lena's shock. Crab Turtle shattered to bits and her life points dropped to 2100. Soon after, Legendary Fisherman's harpoon returned to his hand.

"What… what the hell!" Lena exclaimed. "What just happened here?"

"Thanks to Ocean of Paradise, when a Water monster attacks a monster with higher ATK, it gains 1000 ATK during the battle." Mako explained.

"So it's basically a version of Skyscraper made for Water monsters." Jaden realized on the sidelines.

"At least Lena can use that same effect as well." Aster pointed out. "Although with Legendary Fisherman on the field, that effect isn't worth much. Because Ocean of Paradise is another version of Umi, Legendary Fisherman can't be attacked or destroyed with a Spell card. Lena's going to have to figure out a way around Legendary Fisherman first if she's going to win this duel."

"I'll end my turn there." Mako announced. "If I were you, I'd make it easy on myself and surrender now."

Lena drew her next card and scowled. "I set one card on the field! Then I switch Mermaid Knight to Defense Mode and end my turn!"

Mako drew his next card. "I summon Giant Red Sea Snake in Attack Mode!" A large red aquatic snake with blue stripes appeared on Mako's side of the field. "Sea Snake! Attack Mermaid Knight! Aqua Venom!"

"I activate my Trap, Negate Attack!" Lena announced.

The giant snake lunged across the field at the redheaded mermaid. Before it could strike though, a vortex appeared in front of Mermaid Knight and pushed the snake back over to Mako's side of the field.

"Well done." Mako responded. "I'll end my turn then."

Lena drew her next card. "I activate Pot of Greed and draw two more cards from my deck! Next I switch Mermaid Knight to Attack Mode!"

"So, I guess you've chosen to go down fighting." Mako observed.

"I may not be able to get rid of that damn fisherman of yours, but I can at least take down that stupid snake!" Lena responded. "My Mermaid Knight may only have 1500 ATK, but she'll gain the same boost your Fisherman got when he attacked Crab Turtle!"

"Then go ahead. Come at me." Mako dared.

"You asked for it!" Lena told him. "Mermaid Knight, attack Giant Red Sea Snake! Rainbow Blade!"

"I activate the Continuous Trap, Blessings of the Water Goddess!" Mako announced. "This card can only be used while Ocean of Paradise is on the field!"

Appearing behind Mako was a large mermaid statue made from pure white marble. In her right hand, the statue held a trident, and under her left arm was a large ornate vase. As soon as Mermaid Knight came in striking distance, the statue's eyes began to glow with a blue light. The mermaid warrior's sword slashed through the snake's body, only for the snake to turn into water and reform.

"What the… is this some other effect of Ocean of Paradise that you didn't bother to tell me about?" Lena asked her opponent.

"Not at all. What you just saw was the effect of Blessings of the Water Goddess." Mako explained. "While this card is on the field, I take no damage from battles involving my Water monsters. Not only that, I can discard a card to prevent one of my Water monsters from being destroyed once per turn."

"The Mako Tsunami Ms. Lena's facing may be just a computer simulation, but he has the same fighting style as the real one." Hiroki commented. "The real Mako Tsunami was putting up a near invincible defense using the ocean itself while launching powerful attacks. That technique is proving to be just as effective now as it was during Duelist Kingdom and Battle City."

"The only ones to break through that defense were the legendary Joey Wheeler and the great Yugi Muto himself." Clive recalled. "When you think about that, it doesn't really seem like Lena has what it takes to pull it off."

"Lena will find a way." Jaden told them. "I'm sure of it."

"Looks like you're out of moves." Mako observed. "What're you going to do now?"

"…I set one card on the field and end my turn." Lena announced.

"It seems that you've reached your limit." Mako assumed as he drew his next card. "I may as well put you out of my misery. I equip Legendary Fisherman with the Spell card, Trident of Poseidon!"

Legendary Fisherman's harpoon began to glow with a golden light. In moments the weapon changed into a golden trident decorated with two fish carvings that were wrapped around the base of the head. Set into the eyes of the fish carvings was a set of four brilliant sapphires.

"I activate Trident of Poseidon's effect!" Mako announced. "By sacrificing another Water monster I control, Legendary Fisherman's ATK is doubled until the end of your next turn. Not that you're going to have one though. I sacrifice Giant Red Sea Snake to double Legendary Fisherman's ATK to 3700!"

The red snake shattered into particles of blue light that flowed into the gems on the trident. Legendary Fisherman began to glow with a brilliant sapphire aura.

"If this next attack gets through, Lena's had it!" Aster realized.

"Prepare yourself for the wrath of the sea!" Mako declared. "Legendary Fisherman, destroy Mermaid Knight! Poseidon Harpoon!"

Legendary Fisherman threw the trident at Lena's mermaid. Upon being hit, Lena was washed out by an explosion of blue light. When the light faded and the smoke finally cleared, Mermaid Knight was gone and Lena's life points had climbed to 3900.

"What! How do you still have life points?" a stunned Mako asked.

"When you attacked, I activated my Trap, Nutrient Z." Lena explained. "Since the damage from your Fisherman's attack was going to me over 2000, Nutrient Z gave me a boost of 4000 life points."

"That was a close one." Jaden declared as he and the others breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well played." Mako told Lena. "But this is far from over! I end my turn!"

Lena drew her next card and smirked upon looking at it. "Looks like you're finally finished. I activate Monster Reborn back from the Graveyard!" The one-eyed crab monster reappeared on the battlefield. "Here's where things start to get good."

"You may have summoned your strongest monster back to the field, but it won't do you any good." Mako told her. "Even if it could attack my Legendary Fisherman, the boost fro Ocean of Paradise wouldn't be enough to surpass his current attack."

"Who said Crab Turtle was my strongest monster?" Lena replied. "He's just muscle I keep in my deck because he's super easy to summon. Next I summon Amphibious Bugroth MK-3 in Attack Mode!" Lena's red mechanical mini-sub appeared next to Crab Turtle. "Now I use one of the effects of Ocean of Paradise and sacrifice both Crab Turtle and Bugroth to summon my real ace monster! Say hello to The Tyrant Neptune!"

Lena's two monsters shattered to bits and a pillar of blue light shot up from behind the blunette. After a moment, the light faded to reveal a large reptilian monster. Its body was similar to that of a centaur, with its lower half being the body of a crocodile. Silver armor covered the creature's torso, shoulders, wrists, as well as its waist and the back of its lower crocodilian body. In both hands, the beast wielded a massive scythe. Its lizard head was shadowy and had long strands of hair on the back and glowing yellow eyes.

"Amazing! I had no idea that Lena had one of the Legendary Planet monsters." An impressed Aster spoke.

"Tyrant Neptune's one of the Legendary Planets?" Jaden asked.

"Yeah. I'm not surprised you've heard of them, since one of them is an Elemental Hero." Aster replied.

"Tyrant Neptune gains the combined ATK of the monsters used to summon him." Lena announced. "Which means right now Neptune's has an ATK of 4050. Not only that, I can have Neptune gain the name and effects of one of the monsters used to summon him. And the monster I choose is Amphibious Bugroth MK-3!"

A ghostly version of Bugroth appeared in front of Neptune. The reptilian monster punched his scaly left hand into the rear of the sub, causing it to shoot sparks. Blue energy began to flow from Bugroth into Neptune's body for a few moments before the sub shattered to bits.

"Time to finish this!" Lena declared. "Neptune, attack!"

"Have you forgotten that my Legendary Fisherman can't be attacked?" Mako reminded her.

"Who said I was attacking your stupid fisherman?" Lena asked.

Before Mako could respond, Neptune suddenly vanished. The sea duelist and everyone watching from the sidelines began to look for where the reptilian creature had gone.

"What's going on?" Mako demanded to know.

"I can't believe that a legendary sea duelist like you hasn't figured it out." Lena responded. "While Umi is on the field, Amphibious Bugroth MK-3 can make direct attacks. And since Neptune just plundered Bugroth's effect, he can do the same thing."

Just then, Neptune reappeared behind Mako with his massive scythe raised to strike. Mako looked back and saw the reptilian conqueror behind him, causing the color to drain from his face.

"Neptune, cut fish boy to shreds!" Lena commanded. "Sickle of Ruin!"

Neptune swung down his massive scythe and cut Mako in half. As soon as his life points dropped from 4000 to zero, the two halves of his body shattered into blue polygons. With the duel at an end, Neptune and Legendary Fisherman vanished, as did Mako's mermaid statue.

"See you guys? Nothing to it." Lena told the others.

"Stage one cleared." The computerized voice announced. "Proceed to stage two."

A black stone floor suddenly replaced the pool in the middle of the castle. An electric metal door appeared on the far opposite end of the room and opened up.

"Guess this means we can move on." Clive observed.

"Then let's get going." Jaden told them. "Blair's waiting for us."

Just as the team was about to move out, a holographic screen filled with static appeared in the air. The screen crackled with black electricity and the sound of a distorted laugh filled the room.

"Well done." The distorted voice spoke. "That was very entertaining. I can see that I'm in for quite the show."

"Who are you?" Jaden asked.

"I am the final boss of this game." The voice answered. "And you should all know that I'm nothing like the electronic puppets like the one your friend just defeated."

"Are you saying you're some kind of artificial intelligence?" Aster asked.

"That's right." The voice answered. "And one who seems to have chosen the right bait, since the one of you I wanted to come is here."

"And which one of us is that?" Jaden asked.

"That would be you, Jaden Yuki." The voice answered. "I knew that if I captured one of your friends, you'd come dashing to the rescue."

"Well you got me here. Now let Blair go!" Jaden ordered.

"Now what fun would it be if I did that?" the voice responded. "If you want to save Blair, you're going to have to come and get her on the final level. I'll be waiting for you. Try not to die before then." With that, the holographic screen vanished.

"Why does the final boss of this game want to get at the Fusion Master?" Clive asked.

"No idea." Aster replied. "Dr. Flynn didn't say anything about the final boss being some kind of A.I."

"I don't care who's behind this or why." Jaden told them. "All I care about right now is saving Blair."

"Then we better get a move on." Lena told them. "I'm guessing we don't have time to waste."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** So now we know a little more about Lena's background thanks to this chapter. I had intended to reveal a bit more, but I couldn't figure out a good way to fit some of it in. Originally, Lena's first name was going to be Linda, but I didn't think it sounded as good.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	6. Labyrinth of Bone

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 5: Labyrinth of Bone

After a few moments of walking through what appeared to be a dark metal corridor, Jaden and the rest of the team arrived at the bottom of what looked like a massive well. The walls of the well were composed of bricks made of white stone and covered by years of moss. As soon all five members of the team were in the well, the mechanical door they had come through suddenly vanished without a trace. Meanwhile, right in front of them was a much larger wooden door with faded red paint. Engraved in a stone plaque above the door was the phrase, "Here lies the Empire of the Dead."

"This looks like a cheery place." Lena sarcastically remarked.

Before anyone could respond, a beam of blue light projected from the letters of the plaque. The light formed into a holographic screen that showed what looked to be a map of an elaborate maze.

"Welcome to stage two, Underworld Catacombs." Spoke the same computerized female voice from the previous level. "Your mission in this stage is to navigate to the center of the labyrinth beyond these doors and defeat the duelist waiting inside. Be warned that there are monsters wandering the halls of the labyrinth. Please note that winged monsters such as dragons are not allowed to move inside the labyrinth. There is no time limit to completing this mission. Good luck."

With that, the holographic screen vanished and the large wooden doors swung inward. Jaden and the others were quickly assaulted by a damp musty smell coming from the long black corridor that loomed before them.

"Do… do we really have to go in there." Hiroki asked as some of the color drained from his face.

"It's not like we have much of an option, mate." Clive pointed out.

"Are you scared, Hiroki?" Jaden asked.

"Scared? Me? Ha!" Hiroki scoffed. "This challenge is nothing to someone like me. Though I'd understand if someone like you was afraid."

"I'll admit that it is kind of creepy, but I've seen a lot worse." Jaden replied.

"Let's just get going." Aster told them. "I'm thinking that this is going to take us a while."

With that, Jaden and the others proceeded through the massive archway into the labyrinth. As soon as they were all through, the doors slammed shut behind them, causing Hiroki to let out a small yelp. For a moment they were in complete darkness until lines of torches on both sides of the corridor suddenly lit up on their own. The red light from the flames revealed that the walls were lined with row after row of human skulls.

"We're gonna run into Zombie monsters in here, aren't we?" Clive assumed.

"Oh yeah." Lena agreed.

The team headed silently through the long corridor into the labyrinth. The only sounds that could be heard were their footsteps on the hard stone floor and the occasional chattering of Hiroki's teeth. After a few short moments they reached a fork in the corridor that split to the left and the right.

"Well, which way do we go?" Aster asked.

"I could flip a coin and let lady luck decide." Clive suggested.

"And if your coin flip leads us to a dead end, what then?" Lena asked.

"Anyway you look at it, this labyrinth is going to take a long time to navigate." Aster pointed out. "There has to be some kind of clue that could point us in the right direction."

Jaden glanced down at the ground and in the dim torch light noticed something carved into one of the stone bricks that made up the floor. He kneeled down to take a closer look and saw that it appeared to be the carving of a skull, and that the top of the skull was pointing to the left direction.

"Hey guys, this might sound crazy, but I think we should try going left." Jaden suggested as he got back to his feet.

"What makes you say that, Fusion Master?" Clive asked.

"In the floor, there's a little carving of a skull that's kind of pointing in that direction." Jaden explained. "I think that might be the clue that Aster was talking about."

"And how do we know that following that skull marking won't lead us into a trap?" Hiroki asked.

"Right now it's really all we've got to go on." Aster pointed out. "We'll go left and keep an eye out for more skulls."

"Works for me." Lena responded. With that, the team headed into the corridor on the left.

* * *

Alec stood nervously in the control room of the lab looking through the window into the room where the pods were. He was relieved that the vital signs of Jaden and the others were still reading normally, but he knew that state could change in an instant if something else went wrong.

At that moment, a man with sandy-colored hair wearing a lab coat burst into the control room. "Dr. Flynn! We have another problem! Mr. Kaiba is here to speak with you."

"What!" Alec exclaimed.

The sandy-haired man was then pushed aside by two more men wearing black suits and sunglasses. The suited men stood at either side of the door, and walking into the control room was a young man with brown hair and piercing blue eyes wearing a white suit with a blue tie. Alec knew this man very well as the man who owned his lab, Seto Kaiba.

"Mr. Kaiba! I, uh… I did not expect you to come here in person." Alec told him.

"When I heard that a duel academy student got trapped inside your little simulator project, I decided to come here to make sure you didn't screw things up any more than you already have." Kaiba replied. "At the very least, this could turn into a PR nightmare for my company."

"I understand perfectly, sir." Alec assured him.

"What have you been doing to get that girl out?" Kaiba asked.

"So far, we've been unable to deactivate the simulation from the outside." Alec informed him. "So we've sent a team of five duelists in to clear the entire simulation in the hopes that doing so will end it and deactivate the pods."

"Are you saying you sent even more people into that game of yours?" a displeased Kaiba asked. "You realize that you may have just tried to put out this fire using gasoline! If that team of yours doesn't succeed, than we'll be in an even worse position than we're already in!"

"I understand, sir. But you needn't worry. Among the members of the team I put together are some of the finest young pro duelists of their time." Alec assured him. "I have every confidence they will succeed."

"For your sake, they had better." Kaiba told him. "You know for a fact that I've never approved of this project of yours. I've had enough of my own experience with virtual simulation pod technology to know how potentially dangerous it is. From this point on, I'm going to personally oversee every step of this rescue operation of yours until it's resolved. After that, don't be surprised if your performance here at Kaiba Corp comes up for review."

"Yes sir." Alec responded as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

* * *

The team continued on through the corridor keeping an eye out for any more skull carvings in the floor. They had been walking for what seemed like several minutes when suddenly three living skeletons that were yellowed with age and wearing purple robs appeared right in front of them. Hiroki let out a scream upon seeing them.

"I've got this!" Jaden declared as he drew an opening hand. "Go, Elemental Hero Sparkman!"

Appearing inside the corridor was a warrior clad in a blue bodysuit that had gold armor covering his face and chest, along with a pair of wing-like pieces on his back. Running down the sides of each of his legs was a yellow line similar to a lightning bolt.

"I'll help too!" Aster told him as he drew his own hand. "Go, Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude!"

Appearing in the corridor next to Sparkman was another warrior with wild silver hair with gold streaks, wearing a tattered dark-green cape with a blue bodysuit. A diamond-like mask covered his eyes, and on the buckle of his belt was a gold letter D. Giant diamond shards grew from his back, with smaller shards of diamond grew from his arms and legs in an irregular pattern. In place of a right hand, he had what looked like a pincer made of diamond.

"I think I'll join this party too." Clive decided as he drew from his deck. "Go, Strike Ninja!"

Materializing next to Sparkman and Diamond Dude was a ninja clad in black. He had a tattered red scarf around his neck and a gold mask covering his face. Strike Ninja flipped through the air and struck one of the skeletons with a flying kick, reducing its bones to dust and causing its purple robes to fall to the ground. Sparkman destroyed the second skeleton with an electrified punch while Diamond Dude hit the remaining skeleton with his diamond-encrusted claw.

"Those were just Skull Servants, probably the weakest Zombie monsters in the game." Lena identified. "So far this maze is turning out to be a real yawn."

"There might be some stronger monsters waiting deeper inside the maze." Aster pointed out. "We shouldn't let our guard down."

At that moment, Hiroki glanced to his left and saw a smaller corridor leading to a door. "Hey! I think I found the room where that next simulated duelist is waiting."

"But we haven't been in this labyrinth for that long." Aster reminded him. "It seems unlikely that we'd find the boss room this quickly."

"We haven't seen a skull that points towards that room, Hiroki." Jaden pointed out. "We should probably get going."

"C'mon! This has to be the room!" Hiroki insisted as he suddenly stormed down the corridor. The rest of the team and their monsters went after him but couldn't stop Hiroki before he opened it. The entire team ended up going inside only to find an empty room.

"I don't get it. If this isn't the boss room, then what is it?" Hiroki asked.

Suddenly the door to the room slammed shut and the torches lining the walls lit up. Materializing in the center of the room was a massive creature with armored plating that looked like it was made out of bone. It had an almost human-like face with red eyes and a wide mouth filled with long sharp teeth. On its forehead was a single sharp horn, and the sides of its neck were covered in blue scales. The exposed open ribcage on the creature's chest showed a massive red orb. The thing's arms and legs appeared to be made of a collection of skulls that were mashed together. As soon as the creature appeared, two HP gauges appeared next to it.

"Oh crap!" Lena cursed. "Ryu Kokki! With all these Warrior monsters we have out, this is the worst thing that could've appeared!"

"I'll handle this!" Hiroki declared as he drew his opening hand. "I led us into this trap, so I'll get us out!"

"Hiroki, wait! You can't do anything in this battle!" Aster told him.

"Quiet, Phoenix!" Hiroki shot back. "I'll prove to both you and Jaden Yuki just how strong I truly am!"

Suddenly Ryu Kokki roared and stomped his foot near Hiroki, causing the blue-haired duelist to flinch and nearly drop his cards. The bone creature swung his claws down towards Hiroki only for Sparkman and Diamond Dude to fly in and strike the beast. Ryu Kokki pulled his bony hand back, but both Sparkman and Diamond Dude were instantly destroyed. Jaden's life points dropped from 4000 to 2400. Meanwhile, Aster's life points had dropped to 2600.

Ryu Kokki attempted to swing his other arm towards Hiroki, only for Clive to send Strike Ninja to block the attack. The ninja struck the bone monster with his daggers, causing Ryu Kokki to pull back. Strike Ninja meanwhile shattered into bits of light and Clive's life points dropped to 2300.

"Hiroki, are you okay?" Jaden asked.

"I'm perfectly fine, and I didn't need Hero users like you to protect me!" Hiroki told them.

"Never mind that!" Aster told him. "It's best right now to just let Lena handle this battle. We'll try and support her with Spell cards as best we can."

"Nonsense! We don't need Ms. Rogers to handle this battle, because I've just drawn the perfect monster for this situation!" Hiroki told them. "I summon Getsu Fuhma!"

Appearing inside the chamber was an effeminate male warrior with long red hair, wearing grey and red samurai-like armor. In his right hand, he carried a long katana. As soon as Getsu Fuhma appeared, Ryu Kokki paused and starred down at him. Getsu Fuhma meanwhile glared back at the bone monsters.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Lena exclaimed.

"I equip Getsu Fuhma with the Spell card, Mist Body!" Hiroki announced. "Now he can't be destroyed in battle! More importantly though, any Fiend or Zombie monster that Fuhma attacks is instantly destroyed!"

"Hiroki, wait!" Jaden called.

"Getsu Fuhma, attack Ryu Kokki and end this nightmare!" Hiroki commanded.

The redheaded warrior leapt up into the air with his sword raised to strike Ryu Kokki. The blade struck the creature's bony hide and suddenly an explosion of white light washed out the entire chamber. Hiroki was knocked onto his back by the resulting shockwave and his life points had dropped to 2300. When the light cleared, the door to the chamber opened on its own and there was no trace of either Ryu Kokki or Getsu Fuhma.

"What… what just happened?" Hiroki asked as he got back to his feet. "Why was Getsu Fuhma destroyed?"

"You dumbass! Don't you know that Getsu Fuhma and Ryu Kokki are arch enemies?" Lena told him.

"They are?" a confused Hiroki replied.

"Yeah! Just like Getsu Fuhma has an effect that destroys any Fiend or Zombie monster he battles, Ryu Kokki has an effect that destroys any Warrior or Spellcaster monster that battles him." Lena explained. "They have opposite effects that are guaranteed to take one another out. That's why all you did was blow yourself up just now."

"So then… Getsu Fuhma was destroyed by Ryu Kokki's effect?" Hiroki realized.

"Duh! Just like every other Warrior monster that attacked him just now." Lena told him. "Why did you think that the monsters of Jaden and the others were taken out in one hit by that thing?"

"I had just assumed that they were too weak and didn't have enough HP to survive the attack." Hiroki answered.

"That's why I told you before that you couldn't help in this battle." Aster told Hiroki. "You use a Warrior deck just like most of the rest of us do. Lena's deck was the best one suited to take on Ryu Kokki."

"In a way though mates, Hiroki using Getsu Fuhma like that saved us a bit of time and energy." Clive pointed out. "Of course it looks like because of the way this game is set up, we each lost life points equal to the ATK of our monsters."

"Well, the important thing is that we managed to get out of this trap." Jaden pointed out. "Let's just get back out there and find the boss room."

With that, Jaden left the chamber, followed by Aster, Clive and Lena. Hiroki let out a heavy sigh before following them out a moment later.

* * *

Alec was a nervous wreck as he stood in the control room, though he did his best to maintain a calm demeanor. Every few seconds he'd glance back and look at Kaiba as he talked on his phone. The one thing that Alec was sure of about the situation was that he would need to take a vacation once it was all over. Though by the time Kaiba was through with him, Alec knew that he'd probably have more time off than he knew what to do with.

"Dr. Flynn! Mr. Kaiba!" called Randy, one of Alec's assistants. "I've found something you should both see."

"What is it?" Kaiba asked as he and Alec walked over to Randy's station.

"I figured out why we lost control of the simulator." Randy explained. "There's something that's completely overriding our commands to the system."

"Are you saying that someone else has taken control of the simulator?" Alec asked.

"That seems to be the case." Randy answered.

"Who on earth would do something like this?" Alec asked.

"We can figure that out later." Kaiba told him. "What I'd like to know is if you can get control of the system back?"

"Not yet, but I think I can trace where the person controlling the system is." Randy answered.

"Do it then." Kaiba ordered. "If we can find the scum screwing with this project, then we can quickly bring this to an end."

* * *

Jaden and the rest of the team had been wandering through the labyrinth for what seemed like several minutes following the skull carvings in the floor. They had avoided entering the rooms like the one Hiroki had found earlier. Lena had also taken the lead and had summoned her Gagagigo to fight off any Skull Servants that they encountered. For the most part though, the trip through the labyrinth had been silent. As the team pressed on, Jaden glanced back and noticed how glum that Hiroki seemed to be and fell back to talk to him.

"Hey Hiroki, you doing okay?" Jaden asked.

"My well-being isn't any of your business." Hiroki told him.

"Look, don't feel bad about what happened back there with Ryu Kokki." Jaden continued. "A lot of times, I have trouble remembering what certain cards do too."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to be left alone right now." Hiroki requested.

Jaden let out a small sigh and moved towards the front of the group. Soon after, Clive fell back to have a word with the young duelist.

"Hey man, why're being so hostile towards the Fusion Master?" Clive asked him. "He was only trying to be nice just now."

"I know, but until I defeat Jaden Yuki I must consider him my enemy." Hiroki told him. "The same goes for Aster Phoenix."

"Jeez mate. Just what the hell is it with you and Hero users anyway?" Clive asked.

"It's… it's not something that's easy for me to talk about." Hiroki told him.

At long last, the team reached a large round chamber inside the labyrinth. Right in front of them was a large wall carved to look like a massive human skull with an open mouth. Inside the mouth was a massive red door.

"Looks like we're here." Aster observed.

"What's that carved on the door?" Lena asked, noticing the large letters that seemed to be engraved across the front.

"It looks like it's written in French." Aster observed. "Let's see… it says, 'The way may be opened by paying the price of blood.' I wonder what that means?"

"It's probably nothing." Hiroki assumed as he walked up to the door.

As soon as Hiroki touched the handle of the door bolts of crimson lightning shot from the teeth of the giant skull around the entrance and shocked him. The blue-haired duelist's life points dropped down to 1700. After a moment the shocks ended and a dazed Hiroki let go of the door handle. Suddenly the doors slid open by themselves to reveal the chamber on the other side. Soon after, Lena's monster vanished and her deck was reset.

"Guess the price of blood was the cost of 600 life points." Clive realized.

"You okay Hiroki?" Jaden asked.

"Uh… yeah, I'm fine." Hiroki assured them. "Let's go."

With that, the team headed into what they hoped was the final chamber of the labyrinth. As soon as they were through, the doors slammed shut behind them and the torches on the wall lit up on their own, revealing that they were inside a large circular chamber suitable for a dueling arena. Standing on the far side of the chamber was a very short young-looking man with extremely pale skin, sunken cheeks and long grey hair that stood up on end. He had on tattered brown robs and an old Kaiba Corp duel disk on his left arm.

"Welcome duelists to the crypt that will be your final resting place." The short young man greeted.

"Hey! I know who this guy's supposed to be. That's Bonz Kotsuzuka!" Clive identified. "He was one of the game's first Zombie duelists. He even made it into duelist Kingdom and Battle City, though he didn't get very far in either tournament. In fact, during Battle City they say he disappeared while dueling some bloke in a cemetery towards the end of the prelims."

"What do you mean disappeared?" Jaden asked.

"I mean he vanished off the face of the earth." Clive answered. "Of course some say that he got beaten so badly during that duel that he quit dueling and blended into normal society, but others say that Bonz's opponent banished him to hell after he beat him."

"Sounds like some stupid campfire story to me." Lena remarked.

"Which of you unfortunate souls has the nerve to step forward and face me?" Bonz asked.

"I'll do it!" Hiroki declared as he stepped forward.

"But Hiroki, you've only got 1700 life points left." Jaden reminded him.

"So? In the early days, duelists would start out with only 2000 life points." Hiroki pointed out.

"Yeah, but the game wasn't nearly as complex then as it is now." Aster pointed out. "Plus Bonz is going to start out with a full 4000 life points."

"Besides, you've nearly wet your pants at the sight of almost every undead thing we've run into in this dungeon." Lena added. "You'll probably faint at the sight of even this guy's weakest monsters."

"That won't happen." Hiroki declared.

"C'mon Hiroki, let one of us take this one." Jaden requested.

"By 'one of us,' do you mean you and Phoenix?" Aster asked.

"That's not…" Jaden began.

"Forget it! I'm going to show you both right now how strong I really am by beating this guy." Hiroki told them. "By the time this duel is over, both you Hero users will have to acknowledge just how strong a duelist Hiroki Kitami really is!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** So yeah, the villain for this level is a simulation of Bandit Keith's little minion from Duelist Kingdom, Bonz. I know it might seem like I'm scrapping the bottom of the barrel for enemy duelists here, but I am trying to use characters that I haven't used before for at least the first few chapters. Anyway, in the next chapter we'll find out a little bit more about Hiroki. So stay tuned.

In the meantime, please review and let me know what you think.


	7. Hiroki the Warrior

**Author's Note:** For those who may be reading this chapter now, I had to make a tiny little revision to the dialogue regarding one of the cards in this duel. I'll get into this more in a bit.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 6: Hiroki the Warrior

"It's quite brave of you to face me with only 1700 life points remaining." Bonz told Hiroki. "This way though, it'll only take a second for my zombie army to drag you down into the grave."

"I would still face you even if I only had 700 life points left!" Hiroki declared. "One way or another, I will defeat you!"

"You guys gotta admit, Hiroki's pretty confident." Clive commented.

"More like stupid." Lena responded.

"From what I've seen, Hiroki's a pretty decent duelist." Jaden remarked. "I think his problem is that he tries too hard."

"I think you're right." Aster agreed. "Hiroki's so desperate to prove that he's stronger than Hero deck users that he becomes reckless. Let's hope that in this duel he can keep his cool."

"Let the duel of the dead begin!" Bonz declared.

With that, Hiroki and Bonz both activated their duel disks. As soon as they did, a blue holographic screen appeared in the air in the middle of the arena.

"Duel initiated." A computerized female voice spoke. "Activating Field Spell effect of Underworld Catacombs. No other Field Spells may be played during this duel."

"As the keeper of this crypt, I'll be going first." Bonz declared as the screen vanished and he drew his first card. "I summon Dragon Zombie in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Bonz's side of the battlefield was a fairly large undead dragon with rotting purple flesh and extremely tattered wings that seemed to be too small for its body. The dragon was on all four legs, and its eyes were totally dead.

"Next I play the Continuous Spell, Non-Spellcasting Area!" Bonz announced. "This card protects Normal monsters like my Dragon Zombie from Spell card effects. With that, I end my turn."

Hiroki drew his first card. "I summon Dark Blade in Attack Mode!"

Materializing on Hiroki's side of the field was knight wearing black and silver armor. The knight's helmet had horns made of silver, and on his back was a red flowing cape. In his right hand, the knight wielded a silver saber.

"Dark Blade, slay that zombie dragon!" Hiroki commanded. "Dark Silver Blade!"

Dark Blade charged forward before jumping into the air towards Dragon Zombie. As he came down, the dark knight swung his sword and cut the undead dragon in half down the middle with a single swing. The two halves of the dragon shattered and Bonz's life points dropped to 3800.

"I set one card on the field and end my turn!" Hiroki announced.

As Bonz drew his next card, a large claw suddenly burst through the stone floor of the arena on the zombie duelist's side of the field. Jaden and the others watched in horror as Dragon Zombie emerged from the ground.

"What? But I destroyed that monster already!" Hiroki exclaimed. "How can it be back on the field?"

"My Dragon Zombie was revived by the effect of Underworld Catacombs." Bonz explained. "Each time a Zombie monster that either one of us controls is destroyed in battle, it returns to the field at the beginning of our next turn. What's even better though is that Zombie monsters that are revived by this effect gain 600 extra ATK times the number of times they were destroyed in battle since Underworld Catacombs was played. Which means that my Dragon Zombie's ATK is now 2200!"

"If Hiroki manages to destroy Dragon Zombie in battle again, it'll only come back again with 2800 ATK." Aster realized.

"And taking that thing out with a Spell card is out of the question thanks to Non-Spellcasting Area." Lena added. "I have to admit, that little undead twerp has a pretty good strategy going for him."

"I play the Spell card, Polymerization!" Bonz announced. "From my hand, I fuse a second Dragon Zombie with The Snake Hair to summon Great Mammoth of Goldfine!"

Appearing behind Bonz was a second undead dragon along with a dark-blue and green gorgon with a serpentine lower body. Both monsters were pulled into a transparent vortex behind the zombie duelist. Charging out of the vortex a moment later was a large living mammoth skeleton with gold-colored bones.

"My Mammoth of Goldfine has 2200 ATK just like my first Dragon Zombie does now." Bonz continued. "Which means it all ends for you this turn! Dragon Zombie, turn Dark Blade to dust! Deadly Zombie Breath!"

Dragon Zombie opened its jaws and let out a blast of green miasma towards Dark Blade. Upon being hit, the knight's armor and sword began to rust and his cape burst apart into pieces of thread that dissolved in the air. In a matter of seconds, Dark Blade's armor dropped to the ground in pieces and shattered to bits. Hiroki's life points dropped to 1300.

"Goldfine, attack him directly and end this duel!" Bonz commanded. "Bone Stampede!"

"I activate my Trap, Dimensional Prison!" Hiroki announced. "This card removes your golden mammoth from play!"

As the mammoth skeleton charged across the field, a large portal opened up in front of Hiroki and revealed an endless star-filled space. The skeleton ended up running into the portal, which quickly closed behind it.

"It seems you got lucky there." Bonz observed with a scowl. "Guess I'll have to end my turn. But on my next turn I will bury you in this crypt!"

"That won't happen." Hiroki confidently declared as he drew his next card. "I activate the Spell card, Graceful Charity! With this card, I draw three new cards from my deck and discard two cards from my hand! Now I activate Monster Reborn and use it to summon one of the monsters I just discarded! Come forth, Sword Hunter!"

Appearing on Hiroki's side of the field was a warrior dressed almost like a Roman Gladiator and wielding two long swords in each hand. He also had a much larger sword with a gold handle slung across his back, as well as a much smaller sword sheathed in a scabbard that was strapped to the round plate of armor that was covering the warrior's left shoulder. Decorating the armor that covered the top half of the warrior's face was a very short sword or dagger with a gold handle and a wide blade.

"Sword Hunter? There are actually people that still use that lame card?" Lena asked. "All it's good for is clogging up the Spell and Trap card slots with the monsters it kills for a small 1000 point ATK boost."

"Actually, I think summoning Sword Hunter might be the best move Hiroki could make in this duel." Aster commented.

"What do you mean?" Jaden asked.

"Watch and you'll see." Aster replied.

"I equip Sword Hunter with the Spell card, Lightning Blade, raising his ATK from 2450 to 3250!" Hiroki announced.

The long sword in the warrior's right hand transformed with the blade becoming wider at the top. Bolts of yellow electricity then began to spark from the blade.

"Sword Hunter, cut Dragon Zombie to shreds!" Hiroki ordered. "Strike of a Thousand Blades!"

The swordsman charged forward and slashed Dragon Zombie several times with the blades in his hands. The undead dragon split apart into several chunks of decaying meat that shattered to bits before hitting the ground. Bonz's life points dropped to 2750.

"That last attack of yours achieved nothing." Bonz declared. "In the end, my Dragon Zombie will only come back from the grave even stronger than he was before."

"Actually thanks to Sword Hunter's effect, it won't." Hiroki told him.

Before Bonz could ask what Hiroki meant, Pieces of Sword Hunter's armor transformed. The armor of the swordsman's chest changed to look like the top half of Dragon Zombie's head, with the snout pointing downward. Meanwhile, one of the undead dragon's claws had taken the place of the armor covering the swordsman's left shoulder.

"What! Why are parts of my Dragon Zombie decorating your monster?" Bonz demanded to know.

"Each time Sword Hunter destroys a monster in battle, he turns that monster into an Equip Spell that raises his ATK by 200, making it a part of his armor." Hiroki explained. "Personally I would've preferred to equip him with armor that didn't smell as much as that zombie of yours, but you can't be too picky on the battlefield. The important thing though is by using Sword Hunter, I've defeated the power of Underworld Catacombs."

"I get it. Sword Hunter's effect lets Hiroki equip him with Bonz's zombies before Underworld Catacombs has a chance to kick in." Clive realized.

"Nice move, Hiroki!" Jaden praised.

"I don't need you cheering me on, Jaden Yuki." Hiroki told him.

"Oh c'mon, mate! The Fusion Master is only trying to encourage you here." Clive told him.

"I hardly need the praise of Hero users." Hiroki responded.

"Okay, I am getting sick of this damn grudge of yours!" Lena told Hiroki. "Just what the hell is your deal with Hero users anyway?"

"Yeah mate. This is even getting on my nerves too." Clive agreed. "And since we're probably going to be in this game together for a while yet, why don't you just spill so we can at least understand what your beef's about."

"It's not something that easy for me to talk about." Hiroki told them.

"Just tell us or I'm going to come over there and clobber you!" Lena threatened.

"Well… I suppose if you really must know, it's because… because…" Hiroki began as he began to tear up. "It's because a Hero user stole away the girl I love!"

"Say what?" Lena spoke.

"This girl was someone I grew up with." Hiroki continued. "We went to the same elementary school and everything. I think I had been in love with her since the first time I laid eyes on her, but I had never been able to tell her how I felt. Then one day, my ladylove's parents had to take a job overseas, so she decided to attend a duel academy on a far away island. My heart was crushed, but I resolved to hold on and wait for the day she would return.

"Then one day not too long ago, my darling returned home to visit her parents, who had finally come back from their overseas jobs. Her mother invited me over for dinner, but when I arrived I was shocked to find my darling in the arms of someone else, a former student from the academy she attended who used an Elemental Hero deck. Again, my heart was shattered to pieces, but my fiery soul and iron will refused to let me stand by and let me love be stolen from me! So I challenged my rival to a duel right there on the spot! But alas, I was defeated.

"Since that day, I have sworn to defeat every Hero user in the world in the hopes of proving myself to my darling. Maybe when I do, she'll realize how strong I truly am and how deeply I care for her and come running back to me!"

"…Wow! This drip is now like a thousand times more pathetic to me than before." Lena declared.

"Ol' Hiroki certainly has some issues, that's for sure." Clive declared.

"This whole thing he has against Hero users is because of losing a girl?" Jaden asked with disbelief.

"Hey, some people don't take rejection well." Yubel pointed out as she appeared next to the wandering duelist. "Look at what I did after you had me shot into space."

"I don't know what all of you are talking about, but get on with your turn!" Bonz ordered.

"…Very well." Hiroki responded as he sniffed and wiped away his tears with his wrist. "I set one card on the field and end my turn!"

Bonz drew his next card. "First I activate the Spell, Pot of Greed and draw two more cards! Then I play the Spell card, Fusion Recovery! With this card, I return Polymerization and my other Dragon Zombie to my hand. Now I activate Polymerization again! From my hand, I fuse Pumpking the King of Ghosts with Dragon Zombie and Armored Zombie to summon my most powerful monster in Defense Mode! Arise, Great Pumpking – Ruler of the Netherworld!"

Appearing behind Bonz was a giant orange pumpkin with a single white eye and a large carved jack-o-lantern mouth. In place of a stem, the pumpkin had a small gold crown, and supporting the massive gored were several green tentacle-like vines that grew from its underside. Next to Pumpking appeared Bonz's second undead dragon, along with a green-skinned human zombie wearing old broken pieces of red and yellow samurai armor. A vortex formed around Pumpking and pulled in the other two zombies. In seconds the vortex seemed to vanish and Pumpking started to change.

The ghostly pumpkin grew to twice its size and its green tentacle vines turned black. What looked like a large cape made of black leaves sprouted on its back. A long narrow pair of red horns burst from towards the top of the pumpkin, and his small crown turned black and silver and became adorned with its own much smaller pair of horns. Its single eye turned blood red, and four smaller red eyes appeared around it at each corner. Upon completing its transformation, Great Pumpking let out a chilling shriek.

"Great Pumpking has a DEF of 3500." Bonz continued. "And while he's on the field in Defense Mode, he's the only monster that can be targeted for attacks and card effects."

"But that overgrown pumpkin of yours is the only monster you have out right now." Hiroki pointed out.

"That's all about to change." Bonz told him. "I activate one of Great Pumpking's effects! By discarding the final card in my hand and playing half my life points, I can summon every Normal Zombie monster I have in the Graveyard right now! Arise, Dragon Zombie, Armored Zombie, and Snake Hair!"

Bonz's life points dropped to 1375 and Great Pumpking pushed his black tentacle vines into the ground. Bursting up through the catacomb floor soon after was the second Dragon Zombie, along with Bonz's undead gorgon and zombie samurai.

"I can't attack during the turn I use Great Pumpking's effect to raise the dead." Bonz continued. "But as long as Great Pumpking is on my side of the field, all my other zombies gain 800 ATK."

"That won't do you very much good." Hiroki told the zombie duelist. "Right now, none of your zombies have enough ATK to overcome the power of my Sword Hunter. And on my next turn, I can raise his ATK enough for him to overcome Great Pumpking's DEF."

"Your monster won't be around long enough for that." Bonz told him. "I activate the hidden effect of Underworld Catacombs! Once per turn, if I have Great Pumpking on the field, I can destroy one face-up card they control! And the card I choose to destroy is Sword Hunter!"

"Ah! I activate my face-down card, Emergency Provision!" Hiroki quickly announced. "This card destroys the two cards I have equipped to Sword Hunter and gain life points for each one!"

Sword Hunter's armor and sword changed back to their original forms and Hiroki's life points rose to 3300. Soon after, several black veins burst up from the ground around Sword Hunter and pulled the warrior underneath. Hiroki's field had become bare.

"And now I activate another one of Great Pumpking's effects!" Bonz announced. "Since Underworld Catacombs is on the field, I can inflict 600 points of damage for each Zombie I control, which means you take 2400 points of damage!"

Great Pumpking let out another ghastly shriek, and four horrid white specters with rotting skull-like faces flew from the giant pumpkin's mouth. Hiroki screamed as the wicked spirits swarmed around him. As soon as the blue-haired duelist's life points dropped to 900, the ghosts vanished.

"I'll end my turn there." Bonz announced. "If you had any brains, you'd surrender and make things easier on yourself. Now that I have Great Pumpking on the field, there's no way you can turn this around."

Hiroki drew his next card. "I activate the Spell card, Card of Sanctity! With this, we both draw until we each have six cards in our hands. Next I activate the Spell card, Swing of memories and summon Dark Blade back from the Graveyard!" The dark knight reappeared on the field with a flash of white light. "Now I play the Spell card, Cost Down! With this, I reduce the level of a monster in my hand by two!"

"Trying to make it easier to summon a high-level monster, huh?" Bonz observed. "Well you can summon whatever you like, because no monster can overcome the power of my zombie army!"

"We shall see!" Hiroki told him. "I now sacrifice Dark Blade to summon The Grand Jupiter!"

"Wait, what?" Lena exclaimed.

Dark Blade shattered and a pillar of red light burst up from the ground on Hiroki's side of the field. After a moment, the light faded to reveal a large warrior clad in green, white and yellow mechanical armor. The warrior's fingers were tipped with armored claws, and on his back was a large H-shaped piece of armor that looked almost like they could be a pair of cannons. In the center of his chest was a large sphere that resembled the planet Jupiter. One of The Grand Jupiter's eyes flashed from behind his dark visor and began to glow red.

"Aster isn't that one of the Legendary Planets?" Jaden asked.

"Yeah, it sure is." Aster confirmed. "I never expected Hiroki to have one of them."

"Not a bad monster." Bonz admitted. "But your warrior's 2500 ATK can't overcome Great Pumpking's 3500 DEF."

"He doesn't have to." Hiroki told him. "I activate Jupiter's effect! By discarding two cards from my hand, I can equip Jupiter with one of my opponent's monsters! And since I can only target Great Pumpking with card effects, I choose him!"

Jupiter fired a beam of red light from the planet in the center of his chest at Great Pumpking. In a flash, Great Pumpking was sucked through the beam into the planetary warrior's chest. What little color that Bonz had in his face quickly drained away.

"Jupiter gains the total ATK of all the monsters he's equipped with." Hiroki announced. "And since Great Pumpking has an ATK of 2800, Jupiter's ATK goes up to 5300!"

"N-no way! Impossible!" Bonz exclaimed.

"Jupiter, attack Armored Zombie and end this duel!" Hiroki commanded. "Great Red Spot!"

Jupiter fired a blast of red energy from the planet embedded in his chest at Bonz's zombie samurai. Armored Zombie was vaporized in an instant. Bonz's life points dropped to zero and his body shattered into blue polygons. With the duel at an end all the monsters that were still on the field vanished.

"Stage two cleared." The computerized voice from before announced. "Proceed to stage three."

A mechanical steel door appeared on the far side of the chamber and opened up. Hiroki turned around to see Jaden and the others looking a bit shocked at his victory.

"Well, it seems I've finally proven my strength to you all." Hiroki assumed with a smug look. "Maybe now you won't take me so lightly."

"Where did you get that card?" Lena asked.

"What card?" Hiroki responded.

"You idiot! The one you used to beat that shrimp crypt keeper!" Lena clarified.

"Oh, Jupiter? I won it as a prize in a tournament that was held at my academy once." Hiroki answered. "Why? What's the big deal?"

"The Grand Jupiter is one of the Legendary Planet monsters." Aster informed him.

"Legendary Planets?" Hiroki repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, the same series of cards that my Tyrant Neptune is from." Lena informed him.

"Huh… now that you mention it, both our monsters are named after planets. But I thought it was just a coincidence." Hiroki replied. "So our cards are somehow connected?"

"That's right. The Legendary Planets are a series of very rare and powerful cards that my dad helped to create before he worked on the Destiny Heroes." Aster revealed. "The man who came up with the concept behind them was a brilliant but eccentric card designer named Erich Muller. Some say he created the cards for some kind of purpose, but no one knows what that could be."

"So there's one of these monsters for each planet in the solar system?" Hiroki asked.

"Yeah, and there's one for the sun too." Jaden revealed. "That card belongs to the principal of Duel Academy America. I've seen that card in action with my own eyes along with some of the other Legendary Planets, including Terra Firma."

"Wait, as in Elemental Hero Terra Firma?" Hiroki asked. "That card is one of these Legendary Planets too?"

"Uh, yeah. It represents Earth." Jaden confirmed.

"So, my Grand Jupiter and Terra Firma are of the same class." Hiroki replied as his lips formed into a smirk. "It looks like fate is finally smiling on me."

"This is all fascinating, mates, but I think we should save this conversation for later and move onto the next level of this game." Clive suggested. "Right now we have to save the Fusion Master's friend so we can get out of here."

"Right, let's get going." Aster told the others.

With that, most of the team headed for the exit out of the catacombs. Jaden however hung back.

"Hey, Yubel?" Jaden spoke.

"I already know what you're going to ask." The demon replied as she reappeared next to Jaden. "And yes, I think Hiroki knows Terra Firma all too well."

"So then the person who stole away the girl Hiroki likes is…" Jaden began.

"Yeah." Yubel confirmed before he could finish.

"Wow… so what do we do then?" Jaden asked.

"About Hiroki? Not much of anything." Yubel answered. "Let's just focus on beating this game and saving Blair."

"Right." Jaden replied with a nod, and with that he finally headed for the exit.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** The revision I mentioned before at the start of this chapter concerns The Grand Jupiter. When I wrote this story originally, I had to use the manga version of Jupiter's effect because there was no real world version of the card. Well, as it turns out, a real version of The Grand Jupiter is being released in a special booster pack in Japan this May (2016). And I should note that the real world version of the card is a lot more awesome than the manga version. So I decided to make a couple of revisions to this chapter regarding Jupiter's effect and physical description to hopefully avoid complications in a future GX story.

Anyway, I had to get a little bit creative with the duel in this chapter. The thing about Bonz's deck was that the only time it was truly powerful was during the Duelist Kingdom era when the rules of the card game were a little more abstract. Of course Bonz seemed to use the same deck in Battle City when he dueled Bakura, but in today's card game it just wouldn't be that good of a deck. So for this chapter, I decided to make Bonz's deck into a kind of Normal Zombie deck that worked with a Field Spell that mimicked the Duelist Kingdom version of Call of the Haunted.

So we now know the reason why Hiroki wants to crush all Hero users, and Jaden and Yubel have guessed the identity who stole away the girl he had a thing for. Anyone reading care to guess who that Hero duelist is? I'll give everyone a hint. This is a character who's appeared in one (or rather two) of my previous GX fanfics that's also a crossover with another anime. It probably won't be those who are familiar with my previous work to figure out.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	8. The Quiz Gauntlet

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 7: The Quiz Gauntlet

It had only taken Jaden and the rest of the team a few moments to go through the metal corridor that led out of the Underworld Catacombs and into the next stage. What they found when they exited the corridor was nothing like what they expected. The place they arrived in was a large hexagonal chamber with blue metal walls and a green tiled ceiling. The floor was white and polished and had a red arrow that pointed into a long corridor that was directly in front of them. As the team looked around the chamber, the door behind them disappeared.

"Kind of a drab level, don't you think?" Clive asked.

"Maybe Doc. Flynn and those other designers started running out of ideas at this part." Lena theorized.

Before anyone could venture another guess, a blue holographic screen appeared in the air. "Welcome to Stage Five, Hall of Examination." Spoke the computerized female voice from before. "In this special stage, you must answer a series of fifty questions while passing through the hallway before you in order to reach the duelist waiting at the end. There is no time limit to this mission. Good luck."

"So… we have to take a test in order to get to get through this level?" Lena asked.

"This game was originally intended to be an academy training tool." Aster pointed out. "It would make sense to have a level that tested students' knowledge of the game, which I'm sure is what's going to be the case here."

"Oh boy." Jaden spoke as a little of the color drained from his face.

"Something wrong, Fusion Master?" Clive asked him.

"I've never really been too good at tests." Jaden explained. "It's kind of the reason why I ended up in Slifer Red back at my old academy."

"I'm sure this won't be too difficult." Aster assumed. "Now let's go."

The team followed the arrow on the floor and went into the large corridor before them. In only a few moments they came before a large blue metal door with a yellow question mark on the front. Also on the front of the door was a computer monitor with a pair of dials beneath it. As soon as the reached the door, the screen built into it turned on.

"Initiating exam." Spoke the same computer voice from before. A picture of a monster that looked like a head with a large nose and a red-feathered headdress appeared on the screen. "Question 1: Hane Hane returns two monsters on the field to the hand, true or false?"

"Um… true?" Jaden asked.

"Incorrect." The computer told him. A bolt of blue electricity shot from the screen and shocked Jaden, causing his life points to drop to 3900. "You are now only allowed four more attempts to answer this question correctly."

"The answer is false." Aster told the computer. "Hane Hane can only return one monster to the hand."

"Correct." The computer responded as a little bell rang. "You may now proceed to the next door."

With that, the screen went dark and the door rose up. On the other side, the team saw another short stretch of hallway and another door like the one they had just encountered.

"Guess the great Jaden Yuki isn't perfect, huh?" Hiroki smugly remarked.

"Oh shut up!" Lena told him. "You're not exactly a genius yourself, you know."

"Yeah, I guess I got a little nervous." Jaden responded as he rubbed the back of his head. "Like I said, tests aren't really my thing."

"Just try and relax." Yubel told Jaden as she appeared behind him. "Let the others handle some of this level."

"Blimey, and we have to answer forty-nine more of these?" Clive asked. "This is one brutal level."

"Let's just keep going." Aster told them.

The team headed through the first door and quickly reached the second one. As soon as they arrived, the screen on the door turned on.

"Initiating exam." The computer spoke. The screen on the door showed the image of a grey dragon-like robot with a long gun barrel on the front of its snout and two more gun barrels in place of arms. "Question 2: The coin flip effect of Barrel Dragon can have how many possible results? A: Four results. B: Two results. C: Three results."

"Barrel Dragon's effect can either destroy a monster or not destroy a monster. So the answer must be B." Hiroki assumed.

"Incorrect." The computer spoke. The screen shot Hiroki with a bolt of electricity that took his life points down to 3900. "You are now only allowed four more attempts to answer this question correctly."

"The answer is A: four results." Clive answered.

"Correct." The computer responded, making another bell noise. "You may now proceed to the next door."

"That was an easy one." Clive declared as the door opened up.

"I don't get it. How can Barrel Dragon's effect have four results?" a confused Hiroki asked.

"Barrel Dragon's effect is decided by flipping three coins." Clive explained. "So the result of flipping three coins would either be three heads, three tails, two heads and a tail, and two tails and a head. It was kind of trick question, really."

"Not bad, Winston." Lena praised.

"What can I say? Part of being a gambler like myself means knowing the odds." Clive replied. "Besides, I have Barrel Dragon in my own deck."

The team then proceeded onto the next door. Just like before, the screen built into the door turned on.

"Initiating exam." The computer spoke. The screen showed the image of a regal-looking blue penguin with a small sword. "Question 3: Penguin Knight's effect can return two cards on the field to the hand, true or false."

"Well this is an obvious one." Lena declared. "The answer is true."

"Incorrect." The computer told Lena before shocking her with a bolt of electricity from the door's screen and dropping her life points to 3900. "You are now only allowed four more attempts to answer this question correctly."

"The answer is false." Aster told the door. "It's Penguin Solider that returns cards to the hand."

"Correct." The computer responded. "You may now proceed to the next door."

"What the hell!" Lena exclaimed.

"The question was about Penguin Knight, not Penguin Solider." Aster told her.

"…Aw dammit! I just saw the little picture of the Penguin on the screen and assumed it was Penguin Solider." Lena realized. "Such an idiot move."

"Don't worry about it." Aster told her. "Let's just get going."

The team headed on to the fourth door. Just like before, the screen built into the door activated upon their arrival.

"Initiating exam." The computer spoke. "Question 4: Gemini Monsters of level five or higher need a tribute in order to be summoned a second time for activating their effects, true or false."

"Well that's a no-brainer." Hiroki declared. "The answer is obviously true."

"Incorrect." The computer spoke before shocking Hiroki with another bolt of electricity, causing his life points to drop to 3800. "You are now only allowed four more attempts to answer this question correctly."

"Oh come on!" Hiroki exclaimed.

"The answer is false." Jaden told the computer. "Since high-level Gemini Monsters are already on the field, they don't need tributes for a second summon."

"Correct." The computer responded. "You may now proceed to the next door."

"You only got that question right because I found the right answer for you." Hiroki told Jaden as the door opened.

"Actually I kinda already knew the right answer to that one." Jaden revealed. "A friend of mine uses a deck of Gemini Monsters."

"Which friend is that?" Clive asked.

"One of the girls from Astraea Island." Jaden answered.

Upon hearing the name, Astraea Island, Hiroki went over the left side of the hallway and slammed his fist into the wall. "Damn that Astraea Island! I'll curse that place 'til the day I die!"

"What the hell is with you?" Lena asked. "Hey, I'm not crazy about snobby all-girl duel academies like the ones on that island either, but don't you think that's a little bit of an overreaction?"

"…Never mind." Hiroki told the others after regaining his composure.

The team pushed on and reached the fifth door. Unlike the previous doors, the one that stood before them now was red.

"Initiating exam." The computer spoke as the screen in the door lit up. "For the next question, you will be required to determine the correct solution to the situation that's about to be given to you. An incorrect answer will result in the appearance of a monster. Defeating the monster will result in opening this door, but it is advisable to save your life points for the duration of this exam and answer this question correctly."

"Looks like we'll need to be real careful with this one, guys." Jaden observed.

"Question 5: You have Giant Solider of Stone on the field in Defense Mode and only 1000 life points remaining." The computer began. "The cards you have set on the field are Mirror Force and Spellbinding Circle, and a monster you already have in the Graveyard is Electromagnetic Turtle. Your opponent has summoned Ancient Gear Golem and is attacking. Which of the following is the correct solution to this situation? A: Activate Mirror Force. B: Activate Spellbinding Circle. C: Remove Electromagnetic Turtle from the Graveyard to stop the attack and end the Battle Phase."

"Finally, a question I know the answer to for sure." Hiroki confidently declared.

"Hiroki, wait!" Jaden spoke.

"The answer is A: Activate Mirror Force!" Hiroki declared.

"Incorrect." The computer told him. "Initiating monster battle."

A pillar of light suddenly erupted from the floor and threw Jaden and the others back. Jaden and the rest of the team quickly got back to their feet and prepared for the attack that was about to happen.

"I don't understand!" Hiroki exclaimed.

"Spell and Trap cards can't be activated when Ancient Gear Golem is attacking." Jaden explained. "Trust me, I know."

The pillar of light finally faded to reveal a large human-shaped robot made of rusted iron-grey metal. Its helmet almost looked similar to that of a roman soldier, and it had a single red light for an eye and a pair of horizontal gears for a mouth. A large gear was built into the machine's torso by its left shoulder, and another gear was built into the middle of its waist.

"Ancient Gear Golem!" Aster identified. "It summoned the enemy monster that the question was about!"

"I've got this!" Jaden declared as he drew from his deck. "Go, Neos!"

The white hero of space appeared inside the corridor to fight Ancient Gear Golem. The antique robot swung his iron fist into Neos' chest, knocking him back and taking a chunk out of his HP gauge.

"I equip Neos with the Spell card, Neos Force!" Jaden announced. Neos' right fist began to glow with a brilliant blue light. "With this, card, Neos gains 800 ATK and can inflict damage equal to the ATK of the monster he destroys! If I'm right, this means Neos will be able to do even more damage to Ancient Gear Golem's HP!"

"I got your back, Fusion Master!" Clive declared as he drew from his own deck. "I activate Graceful Dice!"

Appearing behind Neos was a small fairy-like creature wearing a white-buttoned shirt and gloves, along with orange overalls and an orange bowler hat with white wings. In its arms the fairy carried a large blue die. The fairy threw his die to the ground, causing it to land on a four.

"Alright! Time for Neos to get a 400 point boost!" Clive announced.

A blue light shot out of the die and hit Neos in the back. The space hero began to glow with a blue aura.

"Count me in this too!" Lean spoke as she drew her own hand. "I activate Shrink! With this card, Ancient Gear Golem's ATK and DEF are cut in half! And hopefully, this effect will cut this old clunker's HP in half too!"

Ancient Gear Golem began to glow with a green light. In seconds, the antique robot shrunk down to half its original size. Ancient Gear Golem's HP gauge went down to half of what it originally was.

"Neos, attack Ancient Gear Golem!" Jaden commanded. "Force of Neo Space!"

Neos jumped into the air and punched Ancient Gear Golem in the chest. Upon being struck, the robot's HP gauge went into the red zone.

"I summon The Grand Jupiter!" Hiroki announced after drawing his own hand. The dark planetary warrior appeared inside the corridor. "Attack Ancient Gear Golem with Great Red Spot!"

Jupiter fired a blast of red light from the planet in his chest at the ancient robot. Ancient Gear Golem's HP dropped to zero and his body shattered apart. With the golem gone, Jaden and Hiroki's monsters had vanished and everyone's decks had been reset.

"Monster defeated." The computer announced. "You may now proceed to the next door."

The door opened to reveal the next stretch of hallway. The team found that the next door that was waiting for them was blue instead of red.

"It looks like we're only going to encounter a red door every five doors." Aster deduced.

"How many more of these doors do we have left?" Lena asked.

"Forty-five more." Aster answered.

Jaden let out a heavy sigh. "This is going to be a long level."

* * *

Kaiba and Alec waited impatiently for Randy to track down the location of who was really controlling the simulator. The trace had been taking the young technician much longer than any of them had thought, and Kaiba was quickly losing his patience.

"What the hell is taking so long?" Kaiba asked for the tenth time as he paced around the room.

"I think I got it." Randy told them. "Wait… this can't be right."

"What is it?" Alec asked.

"Well according to the trace, the person controlling the simulator is in this very building." Randy answered.

"Are you serious?" Kaiba asked with a look of disbelief. "You're telling me that the person behind all this has been right under our noses this whole time?"

"Can you tell specifically where he is?" Alec asked.

"Room ten, that is if this thing is accurate." Randy answered.

"Room ten? But that's… no! It can't be!" Flynn exclaimed as the color drained from his face.

"What is it, Flynn?" Kaiba asked.

Rather than answering, Alec ran out of the control room. Kaiba scowled and quickly followed after him. After a fast-paced trip through the hallway, Alec and Flynn arrived at a door marked Room Ten. Alec swiped his access card through the door's electric lock and opened up. Inside the darkened room was a large white metal cylindrical machine with a glass dome on top lit on the inside by a green light. On the front of the device was a black control panel with a numbered keypad and a round green light. Twelve thick black cables ran from the left and right sides of the machine into the wall behind it.

"Impossible! There's no way it could be active!" Alec spoke.

"What is this thing?" Kaiba asked.

"What you're seeing, Mr. Kaiba is a sort of side project of mine." Alec explained. "The codename for it is Simulated Soul."

"Wait a minute, I remember reading the file on this project." Kaiba recalled. "It was to create some kind of artificial intelligence, if I remember right."

"To put it simply, yes." Alec confirmed. "The idea was to scan the brainwaves of a duelist, using it as the base to create a computer copy of that person's mind. My intention for this project was a way to create simulated opponents for duel academy students that could operate on a much higher level than a simple computer controlled simulation of an opponent. It would be an opponent that could actually think like its human counterpart."

"So you plugged this thing into the simulator and it decided to take control of it." Kaiba assumed.

"No! This was not supposed to be plugged into the system yet." Alec told him. "There were still a few bugs that needed to be worked out. The project was put on hold until tests on the simulator itself were finished. Simulated Soul was the next phase! It shouldn't even be active! I haven't even put in the brainwave scan that would be the base of the A.I. yet."

"Then if what you're saying is true, someone here started the next phase of your little project without your knowledge." Kaiba deduced. "After all, it's not like this thing plugged itself in."

"The thing to do now is to figure out how to disconnect the A.I. without putting the lives of Ms. Flannigan and the others in danger." Alec told him. "If done improperly, the shutdown could prove to be fatal. It might also be helpful to figure out whose brainwaves were input into the system."

"Fine, you work on that." Kaiba agreed. "In the meantime, I'm going to start figuring out who in this building is behind all this."

* * *

Jaden and the rest of the team had been pressing on through the gauntlet of questions for an agonizingly long amount of time. They had gotten through most of the questions with ease and had even avoided most of the monster battles that would resulted from a wrong answer at one of the red doors, though each of them had taken some fairly significant damage over the course of the exam. Aster had taken the least amount of damage and still had 3200 life points left. Jaden on the other hand was down to 2100 life points, though that wasn't as bad as Hiroki and Clive, who both had 1700 life points left. Lena, meanwhile, had only 1800 life points left. It had taken the team a while, but they had at last reached the final red door.

"This is the last one, right?" Lena asked. "Because I am sick to death of this crap."

"It should be." Aster replied. "This last one is going to be another puzzle question, so let's be ready."

"Initiating exam." The computer spoke as the screen built into the door flared to life. "Please determine the answer for the following situation. Question 5: Your opponent controls Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem and has 3200 life points remaining. The monsters you control are Elemental Hero Avian, Elemental Hero Burstinatrix, and Elemental Hero Sparkman. The cards in your hand are Demotion, Opti-Camouflage Armor, United We Stand, Elemental Hero Wildheart, and Elemental Hero Bladedge. You have 200 life points remaining and your turn has just started. Name the combination of cards that will bring your life points to zero. You have two minutes to solve this problem. Failure to do so will result in the appearance of a monster. Your time starts now."

"What kind of question is this?" Hiroki asked.

"If we had Polymerization, we could pull off a Fusion Summon." Clive pointed out.

"Let's just focus on what we do have." Aster told them. "There must be a solution."

"What if there isn't?" Lena asked. "What if this last question is rigged and we have to fight off a powered-up ancient robot?"

"I'm pretty sure Dr. Flynn wouldn't do that." Aster responded.

"But what if the A.I. or whatever it is that's controlling the game changed this part so we'd have to face a monster no matter what?" Hiroki suggested.

"You now have one minute remaining." The computer informed them.

"C'mon guys. Let's just focus on solving the question." Aster told them.

"What if we sacrificed two of the monsters to summon Bladedge and power it up with United We Stand?" Clive suggested.

"That wouldn't be enough to take the opponent's life points to zero or take down Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem." Aster replied.

"Guys, I think I've got this one." Jaden told them.

"You sure mate?" Clive asked.

"You now have thirty seconds remaining." The computer told them.

"Here's our answer!" Jaden told the machine. "First I'd summon Elemental Hero Wildheart in Attack Mode. Then I'd equip Burstinatrix with Demotion and reduce her level to one. After that, I'd equip Burstinatrix with Opti-Camouflage Armor to allow her to attack directly. Then I'd equip Burstinatrix with United We Stand, increasing her ATK from 1200 to 4400. Finally, I'd attack Burstinatrix directly and end the duel."

"Your answer is… correct." The computer announced, causing the team to breath a collective sigh of relief. "You may now proceed to the final room."

With that, the red metal door opened up, revealing a vast and colorful star-filled space on the other side. The metal flooring of the hallway continued into the expanse.

"That was an amazing job, Jaden." Aster praised.

"Thanks. Though I'm sure one of you guys could've figured it out too." Jaden replied with a modest grin as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Let's just get the hell out of this hallway." Lena told the others.

The team passed through the door and into the star field that awaited them. The door shut behind them and vanished, preventing them from going back the way they came in. Though after all the trouble they had gone through to get to where they were, none one on the team was eager to go back through the gauntlet. The team followed the trail of metal flooring until they finally reached a large square space. Standing at the far end, was a young man with light-green hair wearing a pink long-sleeved shirt with black jeans. His arms were crossed and an old Kaiba Corp duel disk was mounted on his left forearm.

"Welcome, duelists to the final arena of this stage, the Hall of Enlightenment." The green-haired young man greeted. "In order to go further, you must defeat me, the psychic master Espa Roba. But I have seen into every possible future and know for a fact that I will win no matter which one of you duels me. You may as well surrender now!"

"So which of us is going to duel this guy?" Hiroki asked.

"Count me out. My brain is way too exhausted from all those damn questions." Lena told them.

"I'll take this one." Aster decided. "It makes sense that I should, since I have the most life points left."

"Be careful mate. I've heard some stories about this Roba guy, and he's supposed to be kind of a tricky one." Clive informed him.

"Relax, I've got this." Aster assured the others. "This so-called psychic master doesn't stand a chance."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I hope this chapter wasn't too boring of a read for anyone, but I decided to try something a little bit different. A good chunk of the inspiration for this chapter came from the original Pokemon games, where in the seventh gym on Cinnabar Island the player had to answer a series of questions or battle another trainer. The hard part of this chapter was coming up with all the exam questions that Jaden and the others had to answer, especially the the final question.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	9. Hall of Enlightenment

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 8: Hall of Enlightenment

"You are brave to volunteer to face me," Roba told Aster as he stepped up to duel, "but you will struggle against me in vain! I've already seen a vision of you crying out in defeat."

"If you say so." Aster responded with a confident smirk. "But I wouldn't put too much stock in that vision of yours."

With that, Aster and Roba activated their duel discs. The moment they did, a familiar blue holographic screen appeared in the air between them.

"Duel initiated." Announced the same computer voice from before. "Activating Field Spell effect of Hall of Enlightenment. No other Field Spells may be played during this duel."

"Phoenix certainly seems unshaken by Roba's claims that he can see into the future." Hiroki remarked.

"Well of course. We all know that Roba's act is a load of bull." Lena responded.

"Hey Clive, do you know if there's any truth to Roba being able to see into the future?" Jaden asked.

"Well some of the stories I heard say he could, but there are a few that say it really was all an elaborate show." Clive answered. "In fact, in one legendary duel against the great Joey Wheeler, it's said that Roba faked being able to see the future by having his brothers spy on his opponents' hands. It was just a rumor though."

"Even if this Roba guy really could see into the future, Phoenix isn't even dueling the real guy." Lena pointed out. "He's probably got nothing to worry about."

"As guardian of this space, I shall take the first turn." Roba announced as he drew a card. "For my first move, I activate the effect of Hall of Enlightenment. Once per duel, by paying a thousand life points, each of us can look at the top five cards of our decks. If one of those cards is a Spell card, we can banish it and activate its effect three of our turns into the future. The rest of the cards are shuffled back into our decks. Now, it is time for me to commune with the cosmos."

With that, Roba closed his eyes and put his fingers to the sides of his head. His life points went down to 3000 and he began to glow with a multicolored aura. Five cards flew off of the top of his deck and floated a few feet in front of them. After a moment, the self-proclaimed psychic opened his eyes.

"Yes… it is all clear to me now what I must do. The card I choose to banish from this duel is…" Roba began as he pointed at a card, "this one."

The card that Roba pointed to vanished without a trace. The remaining four cards flew back into the green-haired duelist's deck, which his duel disk automatically shuffled.

"I have now just confirmed my vision of the future and know for a fact that you shall lose this duel!" Roba declared. "I can't conduct my Battle Phase during the turn I call upon Hall of Enlightenment's effect. But since I can't attack on the first turn anyway, I'll just summon Cyber Raider in Defense Mode and end my turn."

Appearing on Roba's side of the field in a kneeling position was a warrior clad in a tight blue bodysuit with yellow stripes. His face seemed to be covered by a black mask that only showed a pair of yellow eyes, and on his head was a large grey helmet.

Aster drew his first card. "To start things off, I activate Pot of Greed and draw two more cards from my deck. And now, to get an idea of what the real destiny of this duel is, I also activate the effect of Hall of Enlightenment."

"Are you sure?" Roba asked. "You can only use the effect of Hall of Enlightenment once during the entire duel."

"I'm sure." Aster replied. "I'd like to get an idea of the future myself rather than let a false prophet like you tell me what it is."

With that, Aster's life points went down to 2200 and he began to glow with a multicolored aura. The top five cards of Aster's deck flew out and floated before him. The grey-haired duelist examined the cards carefully for a few moments before his lips once again curved into a confident smirk.

"Okay then. I choose to remove this Spell card." Aster announced, pointing at one of the floating cards.

The card that Aster had pointed to quickly vanished. The other four cards then returned to his deck, which was then shuffled automatically by his duel disk.

"So, I trust that you just saw the same vision I did." Roba assumed. "It is futile for you to struggle against me, as it is your destiny to lose."

"That wasn't what I saw at all." Aster told him. "I saw the real destiny of this duel. Before this is over, a great hero of darkness will appear and defeat you!"

"Impossible!" Roba denied. "There's absolutely zero chance of me losing this duel! This vision you've seen must be false."

"We'll see about that." Aster told him.

"What the… why did he use the effect of that weird Field Spell now?" Lena asked. "He could've used this turn to attack and wipe out that weak barrier monster Roba has out."

"This is just how Aster is." Jaden told them. "He must have some sort of plan, either that or a really strong faith in his deck."

"Well it might've been smarter for him to just attack and take out Cyber Raider." Clive responded. "If I'm right, Roba's probably going to sacrifice his strongest monster, Jinzo. If that happens, Aster might really be in a bind."

"I summon Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude in Defense Mode!" Aster announced. The white-haired diamond-encrusted hero appeared on the battlefield in a kneeling position. "Now I activate Diamond Dude's effect. I take the top card of my deck and reveal it, and if it's a Spell card I can send it to the Graveyard and activate its effect during my deck turn."

"Sending another card into the future, eh?" Roba observed. "Well it won't help you!"

Aster calmly revealed the card on top of his deck. "The card I've pulled is Polymerization! So I'll send it to the Graveyard and use its effect later."

"Didn't expect ol' Aster to have that card in his deck." Clive remarked. "Then again, I guess he has used a few Elemental Hero cards in some of his duels too. He must be trying to summon one of those."

"Either that, or the fusion of his two strongest Destiny Heroes." Jaden told them. "Destiny End Dragoon."

"I'll set two cards on the field and end my turn." Aster announced. "You should know though that me picking up Polymerization with Diamond Dude's effect just now is a sign that there's no escape from the real destiny of this duel."

"Oh please! I do not see a future where I lose this duel." Roba declared as he drew his next card. "Now… I sacrifice Cyber Raider in order to summon Jinzo!"

Cyber Raider shattered to bits and a small cyclone appeared where he once kneeled. The cyclone quickly subsided, and standing in Cyber Raider's place was a humanoid figure clad in green. He had a bald flesh-colored head with bulging veins, and covering his face was a grey metal mask attached by three black leather straps. The lenses of the eyeholes in the mask were red, and at the top and bottom of the vent covering the figure's mouth were two pairs of small metal points that looked almost like fangs. Light-green armor covered the figure's chest and shoulders.

"I'm not finished there." Roba announced. "I now sacrifice Jinzo in order to special summon his ultimate form, Jinzo – Lord!"

A pillar of red energy shot up from the ground around Jinzo and into the air. After a moment the energy faded to reveal the cyborg in a new form. The lenses of his mask had become green and he had somehow gained a third eye on his forehead. The cyborg's green armor had turned purple, and the armor covering his chest had shoulders had become thicker and had turned a shade of lavender. Attached to the enhanced cyborg's back were six leather straps that were raised like tentacles. Each strap ended with a large spiked buckle.

"Not good!" Jaden declared. "I've seen Jinzo – Lord in action before, and it is not an easy card to beat."

"Since Hall of Enlightenment is on the field, all Jinzo monster like Jinzo – Lord gain 500 ATK." Roba continued. "Meaning that Jinzo – Lord's ATK is currently 3100. Now I activate Jinzo – Lord's effect! Once per turn, I can look at your set Spell and Trap cards on the field and in your hand and destroy any Trap card I find. And for each Trap destroyed, you take 300 points of damage! Now, Jinzo – Lord! Reveal to us the traps this duelist has hidden!"

Jinzo – Lord's eyes began to glow, and suddenly the backs of the large cards that Aster had set on the field became transparent. The grey-haired duelist had indeed set a pair of Traps, D Signal and Destiny Mirage. Roba's cyborg lord extended two of his tentacle straps and pierced the backs of Aster's two cards, causing them to explode. Aster's life points took a drop to 1600.

"Jinzo – Lord, obliterate Diamond Dude!" Roba commanded. "Ultimate Cyber Shock!"

Jinzo – Lord raised his hand in front of his torso and a sphere of crackling black energy formed between them. The cyborg fired the sphere at Diamond Dude. The projectile exploded upon hitting its target, and when the smoke cleared, Diamond Dude was gone.

"I end my turn." Roba announced. "I advise you once again to surrender now. Your path to defeat has already begun."

Aster drew his next card. "I activate the effect of the Polymerization card that was sent to the graveyard by Diamond Dude's effect! From my hand, I fuse Destiny Hero – Dasher, Destiny Hero – Dunker, and Destiny Hero – Departed to summon Vision Hero Trinity!"

Three new warriors appeared in the air behind Aster. The first, Dasher, was a slender figure covered in sleek black armor that looked as though it could've been made from a motorcycle. The armor on Dasher's head completely covered the top half of his face, but revealed that he had a purple jaw. Built into Dasher's hands and feet were four small black wheels. The second hero, Dunker, was muscular and had thick blue dreadlocks growing from his head. Dasher had on a grey and white bodysuit and a green mask with glowing red eyes. The third warrior, Departed, wore an elegant but tattered grey suit with a black tie and carried a brown cane with a gold skull carved on the top. Departed had long stringy blue hair, and his head and hands were completely wrapped in bandages.

A transparent vortex appeared in the air above the battlefield and the three heroes jumped up into it. Dropping down out of the vortex a few moments later with a loud thud was a large warrior clad in futuristic red armor. He had a pair of blades on his back similar to wings. The front of the new hero's helmet had a large red lens for an eye, and on the front of his chest was another red lens. Two larger lenses were also built into the sides of the hero's shoulder armor.

"Vision Hero? That's a new one to me." Clive spoke.

"They're Heroes that can be summoned by fusing together any kind of Hero monster." Jaden explained. "I've seen one in action before, but I didn't expect Aster to have one."

"Trinity's ATK is doubled to 5000 during the turn he's summoned." Aster revealed. "Which means Jinzo – Lord is history."

"That's what you think." Roba told him. "I've seen the future of this duel and know exactly how this turn is going to go. Your great hero isn't going to be around for much longer."

"Let's just find out!" Aster responded. "Trinity, attack Jinzo – Lord! Trinity Crush!"

The lens built into Trinity's chest extended forward to become the barrel of a laser cannon. At the same time, the two larger lenses on his shoulders rotated to point in Jinzo – Lord's direction and extended into two cannon barrels as well. The barrels began to glow, and humming sound of the cannons powering up could be heard as their brightness intensified.

"I now activate the effect of De-Fusion!" Roba announced. "With the power of De-Fusion, I now split Trinity back into the three monsters that were used to summon it!"

Suddenly Trinity seemed to explode with a blinding flash of white light. The light cleared and the red armored hero had been replaced by Dasher, Dunker and Departed.

"What the hell!" Lena exclaimed. "I'm calling foul here! Roba didn't set De-Fusion on the field, so there's no way he could've activated it!"

"Interesting move." Aster told Roba. "Mind sharing how you pulled it off?"

"I'd think that would be obvious." Roba replied. "De-Fusion was the card I banished and sent into the future using Hall of Enlightenment's effect."

"But I thought you couldn't activate a card banished by Hall of Enlightenment until your third turn after using the effect." Aster recalled.

"True, but since I have a Jinzo monster on the field, Hall of Enlightenment allowed me to activate the card's effect any time during my opponent's second turn after I used the effect." Roba revealed. "As for my selection of De-Fusion, I had foreseen that I'd be facing a duelist who used Fusion Monsters and chose accordingly."

"Well played." Aster admitted.

"Kind of a cheat, if you ask me." Lena declared.

"For my next move, I activate the Spell, Monster Recovery!" Aster announced. "I shuffle my hand and monsters on the field back into my deck and draw five new cards!" In an instant, Aster's three dark heroes vanished. "Since I haven't Normal Summoned this turn, I summon Destiny Hero – Defender and end my turn!"

Materializing on Aster's side of the field in a cross-legged sitting position was a large warrior wearing thick armor made of grey stone brick. He had a pair of flat black horns on the sides of his helmet, and the only part of his face that could be seen was a pair of glowing red eyes.

"Now you're running scared, just as I predicted." Roba bragged. "Looks like your vision of a dark hero coming to defeat me has been shattered."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that, if I were you." Aster told him. "The real destiny of this duel is inescapable."

"You have no clue about what the real destiny of this duel is." Roba confidently declared as he drew his next card. "I activate Jinzo – Lord's effect to scan your hand for Trap cards!"

Jinzo – Lord's eyes began to glow and the backs of the cards in Aster's hand became transparent. One of the cards in Aster's hand was the Trap card, D – Chain. The cyborg lord fired a beam of light from his third eye at the Trap, causing it to explode in Aster's hand. The smoke cleared, and Aster put the still-intact card in the Graveyard slot of his duel disk as his life points dropped to 1300.

"Next I equip Jinzo – Lord with Fairy Meteor Crush, allowing him to inflict battle damage when destroying a monster in Defense Mode!" Roba announced. Jinzo – Lord began to glow with a feint orange aura. "Jinzo – Lord, destroy Destiny Hero – Defender! Ultimate Cyber Shock!"

The cyborg fired another crackling ball of black energy at Defender, causing the stone-armored hero to explode in a flash of fire and smoke. Aster's life points dropped further to 900.

"I'll end my turn there." Roba announced. "Maybe now you've realized that there's no escape the future of this duel. In the end, I will be victorious!"

"You are right about one thing. There's no escaping the future of this duel." Aster admitted. "But that future has arrived now! I activate the effect of the card I banished using Hall of Enlightenment, Polymerization!"

"Polymerization was the card he banished?" a surprised Jaden asked.

"He must have been planning to fuse a couple of the monsters he had in his hand already when he banished the card." Lena assumed. "But he shuffled his hand since then. I don't see how he could still use it now."

"Maybe he's planning to summon another one of those Vision Heroes." Hiroki assumed.

"The monsters I'm about to fuse together were among the top five cards I picked up with Hall of Enlightenment." Aster revealed. "That's how I knew the way this duel is going to go. And now those Heroes have come to my hand! I fused Destiny Hero – Plasma with Destiny Hero – Dogma to summon Destiny End Dragoon!"

Dogma appeared behind Aster along with another warrior in a sinister-looking purple and blue costume. He had a large tattered pair of black batwings on his back, along with a pair of much smaller red batwings on the sides of the mask on his head. The warrior's right hand was a dragon-like head with no eyes. From the top of his back were what looked like three large claws, and extending from the warrior's hind end was a long purple dragon-like tail. A transparent vortex appeared above the battlefield and Plasma and Dogma flew into it.

Dropping down out of the vortex a moment later was a new warrior resembling Plasma in a different form. The large wings on his back had turned red, and the armor on his chest had transformed to look like the head of a purplish-red dragon with yellow eyes. Covering his right forearm was a piece of armor with a sword blade extending from it, and on his left forearm was a large shield resembling the head of a dragon's head with red eyes.

"What the… you knew that you were going to draw the monsters for that fusion when you needed to?" a stunned Roba asked with disbelief.

"And just as I foretold, a hero of darkness as arrived to defeat you." Aster responded.

"Well… that hero of yours certainly is impressive, but he only has 3000 ATK points!" Roba pointed out. "He's just not quite strong enough to defeat Jinzo – Lord in battle."

"True, but he doesn't need to." Aster told him. "I activate Destiny End Dragoon's effect! Once per turn, I can destroy an opponent's monster and deal damage equal to its ATK! And of course the monster I choose is Jinzo – Lord!"

"No! Impossible!" Roba denied.

"End this, Destiny End Dragoon!" Aster commanded. "D Prison!"

Destiny End Dragoon shot a purple fireball from the mouth of his shield. Jinzo – Lord was struck in the chest and shattered to bits. The fireball kept on going and struck Roba, dropping his life points to zero. With the duel over, Roba shattered into polygons and Destiny End Dragoon vanished from the field.

"Stage three cleared." The computer announced. "Proceed to stage four."

A mechanical door appeared on the other side of the arena where Roba had been standing. Aster let out a sigh as the door opened up.

"That was incredible, Aster!" Jaden praised as he and the others walked up.

"Yeah. That was one hell of a gamble hoping that you'd draw those Destiny Heroes." An equally impressed Clive agreed.

"Luck had nothing to do with it." Aster replied. "I just trusted the destiny that my deck showed me."

"I could've done just as well against Roba." Hiroki huffed.

"Yeah? Then how come you didn't step up to challenge that phony psychic?" Lena asked.

"Okay guys. We've got one more level to get through before the final one." Jaden told the team. "Let's get through it so we can get to Blair."

"Lead on, Fusion Master." Clive responded, and with that the team headed for the gate the next stage.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** The duel in this chapter was kind of a hard one to write. It certainly didn't help that I have no personal experience using the Destiny Heroes in a duel. Of course I prefer the Elemental, Evil and Masked Hero monsters. I also had a really hard time coming up with the effect of the Field Spell for this duel. So as a result, I felt the duel ended up being… messy, for lack of a better world. I do hope that everyone else enjoyed it though.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	10. Castle Hunt

**Author's Note:** Just to give anyone who cares a heads-up, I'm starting another online class next week. It'll hopefully be my final online class, but this likely means that updates to this story will slow down just a bit in the future. Though hopefully they won't slow down too much.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 9: Castle Hunt

Jaden and the rest of the team emerged from the metal corridor that had led from the Hall of Enlightenment in a place that none of them expected. The place was a hallway with mostly beige walls that were decorated with tapestries and had suits of armor standing against them. It looked like the hallway of a modern castle, and as the door that the team had emerged from disappeared they soon recognized that they had all seen the inside of the castle they were in before. They had all seen pictures of it from either textbooks or videos from their old duel academies or from magazines. The hallway they were in was one of the hallways from the castle of Duelist Kingdom.

"I don't believe it!" an awestruck Hiroki declared. "They actually based a level on the castle where they held the Duelist Kingdom finals!"

"This is where legends were forged!" an equally awestruck Clive spoke. "This is where the great Yugi Muto himself defeated Maximillion Pegasus and claimed the title of duelist king!"

"This may all be just a simulation, but it really is amazing to be standing in these halls." Aster admitted.

As Jaden took the place in with the rest of his companions, he looked ahead and noticed a large door only a few feet away from them. The door was decorated with the carving of a gold Pegasus, and in the center of it was some kind of round lock.

"Hey guys? I think we should check out that door." Jaden suggested.

The team walked up to the door and took a closer look at the lock. Around the outer edge of the lock were ten star-shaped holes.

"Wait a minute. Don't tell me…" Lena spoke as she realized what the design of the lock implied.

Just then, a familiar blue holographic screen appeared in front of the door. "Welcome to stage four, Duelist Castle. Your mission for this stage is to search the castle for the ten star chips that will open this door and defeat the duelist on the other side. Be warned that there are monsters lurking throughout the castle. There is no time limit to this mission."

With that, the computer's holographic screen vanished. Jaden and the others turned to each other to figure out what to do.

"So what's our best move here?" Clive asked.

"I'm guessing that the star chips won't all be in one place." Aster assumed. "Our best option might be to split up and look for them."

"Don't you think that's kind of dangerous?" Hiroki asked. "I mean that computer said there were monsters crawling around this place."

"True, but we'll find the chips faster if we split up." Aster pointed out.

"I agree with Aster's plan." Jaden spoke. "The faster we find those star chips, the faster we can get to the duelist guarding this level and get to Blair."

"Besides, most of the monsters we'll run into will probably be more small-fry anyway." Lena added.

"It's settled. As soon as each of us finds some star chips, we'll come back here to the door and wait for everyone to come back." Aster told them. "Now lets go."

With that, the team headed down the hall and began to split up at the first junction where the hallway went in different directions. Jaden headed off on down the hall on the right on his own. As the wandering duelist walked, he couldn't help but become a bit more worried.

"What's bothering you?" Yubel asked as she reappeared next to him.

"I guess I'm just a little concerned about who the duelist we'll have to face on this level is." Jaden answered. "I know Dr. Flynn said that the difficulty level was set too low for virtual copies of Yugi Muto or other legendary duelists like him to show up, but maybe whoever's behind all this changed the game so we would have to face someone that powerful on this stage. If that's what's happened, how are we supposed to beat someone that strong?"

"I'm sure you and the others will find a way." Yubel told him. "Right now let's just focus on finding those star chips. Besides, if our next opponent is some digital copy of a legendary duelist, you're the best one to take them on."

"Yeah, you're right." Jaden replied. "Now let's keep our eyes peeled. Those chips could be anywhere."

* * *

Lena finished making her way down a stone spiral staircase and found that she had made it to the castle's dungeon. She looked inside the empty cell half expecting to find a human skeleton but found nothing.

"Why do castles always have to have dungeons?" Lena asked herself. "Couldn't they have turned this place into a wine cellar or something?"

Suddenly Lena heard a loud clanking noise coming at her from above. She looked back and saw a large metal object coming down at her. Lena quickly dove to the ground and rolled to avoid the thing hitting her. After the object completed its failed pass it turned around to face Lena. The blunette got a good look at the thing as she got back to her feet. The thing was a robot covered in red armor and had a dome-like head with glowing yellow eyes. The machine hovered in the air and had two long arms on the sides of its body. Instead of legs, the robot had a large bladed pendulum hanging from its underside.

"The Pendulum Machine." Lena identified. "The junk cards just keep on coming. Of course I guess cards like that were a little better in the days when you didn't have to tribute summon."

Pendulum Machine flew at Lena again with its blade swinging at full force. Lena quickly rolled out of the way to avoid the attack. As the torture robot completed its pass and turned around to face the blunette again, Lena drew a hand from her deck.

"Let's go, Giga Gagagigo!" Lena called as she placed a card in her duel disc.

Appearing in front of Lena was the same humanoid lizard she had called upon before during the simulation, only it was in a different form. Chrome-plated armor covered his jaw, along with his upper torso, shoulders, forearms, waist, lower legs, and parts of its tail. Both plates of shoulder armor each had a pair of curved spikes, and there were more curved spikes on its elbows and knees. The cyborg lizard man charged at Pendulum Machine and slashed it with his metal claws, creating the sound of metal striking metal. Pendulum Machine's HP gauge went down slightly after being hit.

The robot counterattacked and slashed Giga Gagagigo in the chest with its blade. The attack caused the man-lizard's HP gauge went down slightly. Giga Gagagigo roared and slashed a Pendulum Machine again, making another small dent in its HP.

"Geez! This is going to take forever." Lena declared as she drew another card from her deck. "I equip Giga Gagagigo with Axe of Despair, raising his ATK to 3450!"

An axe with an almost fleshy gnarled handle glowing with a sinister red aura appeared in the cyborg lizard's hand. Using his new weapon, Giga Gagagigo struck at Pendulum Machine, taking a much bigger chunk out of its HP. The torture robot recovered from the attack and took another slash at Giga Gagagigo.

"I activate Shrink and cut Pendulum Machine's stats in half!" Lena announced.

Pendulum Machine glowed with a green aura and shrank down to half its original size. Giga Gagagigo swung his axe down onto the robot's head, slicing it completely in half. Pendulum Machine's HP went down to zero and the two halves of its body exploded. With the killer robot destroyed, Lena let out a sigh and glanced back into the jail cell of the dungeon. In the far corner, she thought she saw a cluster of small shining objects.

Lena went over to the cell and tried the door, finding that it was unlocked. She went inside to where she thought she saw something shining and found three star chips in the corner of the cell.

"Guess these are the only chips here." Lena assumed as she picked the star chips up. "Well, I better get back to the door and wait for the others."

With that, Lena headed back towards the staircase out of the dungeon. Giga Gagagigo growled and followed after her.

* * *

Hiroki walked aimlessly through the halls of the castle peeking into various rooms. He didn't have the slightest idea where to start looking for the star chips he and the others were supposed to find. As the blue-haired duelist walked, he inadvertently stepped on a small switch on a corner of one of the floor tiles. Suddenly the floor opened up beneath him and Hiroki found himself going down a hidden slide. Hiroki screamed as he plummeted through the dark stone passage. After a few moments he emerged through a square hole that led to a much larger stone chamber and landed on his butt.

As Hiroki tried to get back to his feet, he suddenly heard a mechanical noise a few feet away. Hiroki looked and saw a very large green mechanical spider standing before him. Each of its legs had a wheel for a foot and a row of three large black spikes on the front. The machine had an orange head, and on its back was a pair of large brown rocket launchers.

"A Launcher Spider!" Hiroki identified as he finally got back to his feet. "Looks like I've found myself a formidable opponent." He drew a hand from his deck. "I activate Polymerization and fuse Queen's Knight, King's Knight and Jack's Knight in my hand to summon Arcana Knight Joker!"

The three card knights appeared and went into a transparent vortex that had formed on the ceiling of the chamber. A moment later, Arcana Knight Joker dropped down out of the vortex. The ports on Launcher Spider's rocket launchers opened and fired several small red rockets at the card knight. The projectiles bounced off and came back towards the spider robot, impacting on its armor. Launcher Spider's HP gauge took a slight drop.

"Hah! Since Arcana Knight Joker's DEF is higher than your ATK, all you've done it damage yourself!" Hiroki told Launcher Spider. "Arcana Knight Joker, strike back with Royal Straight Slash!"

The fused card knight charged in and slashed the mechanical spider with his sword. Launcher Spider lost another chunk of HP, but still had a bit more to go. The spider retaliated with another barrage of rockets, but once again the rockets bounced off and hit the mechanical arachnid, taking its HP down a little bit further. Arcana Knight Joker struck Launcher Spider with his sword and took its HP gauge down further, but it still had more than half its HP gauge left.

"Man! This thing has a pretty high amount of HP." Hiroki observed. "There's no danger in Arcana Knight Joker taking damage in this battle, but this could take a while. Time to change tactics."

Hiroki drew another card from his deck. At the same time, Launcher Spider fired another barrage of rockets, only for them to bounce back and take its HP down a bit further.

"Let's see if this works. I use the Spell, Smashing Ground on Launcher Spider!" Hiroki called.

Arcana Knight Joker jumped back, and suddenly a ball of blue light came down through the ceiling and struck Launcher Spider. The robot arachnid caught on fire and its HP gauge went down to zero before it exploded.

"The best way to get rid of a bug is to just swat it." Hiroki remarked.

Suddenly a small shiny flash in the far corner of the chamber caught Hiroki's eye. He walked past the flames from Launcher Spider to get a closer look at what it was and found two star chips on the ground.

"Looks like I can finally head back to the door." Hiroki realized as he picked the chips up and put them in his pocket. "Of course first I need to figure out a way to get out of here."

Hiroki looked around and found a passageway leading out of the chamber. He entered the darkened corridor with Arcana Knight Joker following close behind. The young duelist didn't get very far through the corridor when he glanced down and noticed a card lying on the ground. Curious, Hiroki picked it up to take a look.

"Ring of Destruction?" Hiroki read as he looked at the name of the card. "I wonder what this is doing down here?"

Suddenly a thick metal ring lined with hand grenades appeared around Arcana Knight Joker's neck. The ring exploded with a blast of flames that knocked Hiroki on his face. As Hiroki got up, the flames subsided to reveal that Arcana Knight Joker was no more. He looked at his duel disk and saw that his life points had gone down to a mere 200.

"This is not good." Hiroki declared. "Hopefully I won't run into any more monsters down here."

Hiroki proceeded further into the corridor and found that it split left and right. Before he could decide on which direction to go, he heard the sound of an engine coming from the right corridor. Hiroki looked, and coming towards him was a blue mechanical tank with two treads on the bottom and more treads on each side to help it move through the tight quarters. On the front of the machine were two small yellow eyes and a large red drill.

"A Labyrinth Tank!" Hiroki identified.

The robotic tank made its way towards Hiroki. Out of panic over losing what little remained of his life points, Hiroki ran from the tank screaming and flailing his arms.

* * *

Aster had been thoroughly checking each and every room he came across in the castle hoping to find star chips, but so far his search had come up empty. As the silver-haired duelist roamed through the halls, he almost literally bumped into Clive, who was still in the middle of his own search.

"Hey mate. I'm guessing you're not having much luck digging up any star chips?" Clive asked.

"Yeah. No luck on your end, huh?" Aster deduced.

"Nope. I was just about to check I think is the dining room." Clive replied. "Care to join me?"

"Sounds like a plan." Aster replied.

With that, the two of them entered what they thought was the castle's dining room. What they found instead was a large empty rectangular room that looked like it was once a dining room but had been redesigned. On both the left and right sides of the room there were three metal doors like the kind one would find on the front of a garage or storage shed. Suddenly the doors rose up, and out of them came six identical robots. All of them were made of tan-colored metal and had tank treads instead of legs. Each of the robots had helmet-like heads and three small white and red missiles mounted on their backs.

"Guardians of the Throne Room." Aster identified.

"Well isn't that interesting?" Clive replied with a smirk.

"Let's take em out!" Aster told him as he drew a hand from his deck. "I summon Destiny Hero – Dogma!"

The bat-winged antihero appeared inside the room and flew at one of the guard robots. One of the robots fired two of its missiles at Dogma, only for them to bounce off and strike its torso. The first robot lost a huge chunk of its HP. Dogma flew in and slashed the first robot with his sword blade, cutting it in half and dropping its HP to zero. Dogma quickly did the same thing to the second robot in less then a second. Both of the defeated throne room guardians exploded with a blast of fire and smoke.

"Save some for me!" Clive told Aster as he drew an opening hand. "I summon the Time Wizard!"

Appearing in the room in front of Clive was a red clock with arms and legs, and a purple and yellow clock face with goggly eye. The red hands of the clock face were positioned like a mustache. Its hands were a pair of large white gloves, and on top of the clock was a hat with a yellow brim resembling a yellow gear. On the clock's back was purple cape with a high collar that went around the hat, and in his hand was a want with what looked like a roulette wheel on the top.

"I activate Time Wizard's effect!" Clive announced. "Let the wheel of fate spin!"

Time Wizard raised his wand and the red arrow of the roulette wheel began to spin and quickly stopped on the word, "Win" at the bottom of the wheel. A swirling vortex of transparent purple energy appeared inside the room and the remaining throne room guardians quickly became covered in rust. As soon as the phenomenon stopped, the HP gauges of the robots dropped to zero and they exploded. With the robots gone, Aster saw something shining in the far corner of the room and went over to investigate.

"Looks like we found a couple of star chips." Aster told Clive as he bent down to pick them up.

"Well then, why don't we go back to the door and wait for the others to show up?" Clive suggested.

"Might as well." Aster agreed as he put the chips in his pocket. "If the others don't show up in say half an hour, we'll go look for them."

With that, Aster and Clive headed out of the room. Dogma and Time Wizard followed close behind them.

"Say, how come you said it was interesting that those throne room guardians showed up?" Aster asked as they walked.

"Well, with the exception of that last level we were on where we had to take that giant quiz, all the monsters we'd encounter on these little quests have sort of been hints to who the duelist guarding that level was." Clive explained. "On that first level with all those fish and sea monsters, the duelist we ended up facing was a water duelist."

"And then on the second level when we encountered all those zombies, the final duelist was a zombie deck user." Aster realized. "So you're thinking that the duelist on this level is a machine duelist."

"Yep, and I think I know which one." Clive replied.

"Care to share who it is?" Aster asked.

"Not just yet. I'm not really sure if I'm right." Clive answered. "Let's just wait and see what happens when we open that door."

* * *

Jaden made his way down to the bottom of a stone staircase to find himself in the middle of a corridor of brown brick. Looking to his left, Jaden saw a brightly lit opening a few feet ahead.

"Think there might be some star chips in that room over there?" Yubel asked as she reappeared.

"Only one way to find out." Jaden answered.

Before Jaden could move a step, he heard the sound of Hiroki's screams coming from behind. He turned to see the blue-haired duelist still running from the Labyrinth Tank.

"Hiroki, what…?" Jaden began to ask.

"RUN!" Hiroki yelled as he ran past.

Instead of running, Jaden drew an opening hand from his deck. "I activate Polymerization! From my hand, I fuse Elemental Hero Bubbleman with Elemental Hero Avian to summon Elemental Hero Absolute Zero!"

A transparent vortex appeared in front of Jaden and Absolute Zero emerged from the other side. The hero of ice stood firmly against the oncoming Labyrinth Tank.

"I activate Masked Change and use Absolute Zero to summon Masked Hero Vapor!" Jaden announced.

Absolute Zero covered his face with his hand and began to glow with a brilliant yellow light. In a flash the hero of ice transformed into Jaden's blue armored bug-eyed hero. Soon after, Labyrinth Tank became frozen in ice and shattered to bits.

Jaden sighed and turned back to Hiroki. "You okay?"

"Fine." Hiroki huffed as he crossed his arms. "So I'm guessing there's a way out of this place, unless you're trapped down here too."

"Nah, there's a staircase right behind me." Jaden replied, pointing back at the way he came with his thumb. "We can head out of here whenever we want, but I'd like to check that room up ahead first."

"I've already found three star chips." Hiroki informed him. "We can go ahead and go back to the door. I'm sure the others have found the remaining star chips by now."

"I think I should check that room just to be safe." Jaden decided. "You can go back and wait there if you want since you've already found some star chips."

Jaden continued on towards the lit chamber with Vapor following behind. After a moment, Hiroki began to follow him with his hands in his pockets. As they walked, Jaden glanced at the ground and noticed a card on the floor. Jaden stopped and began to bend down to pick it up.

"Don't touch that card!" Hiroki told him.

"How come?" Jaden asked.

"I… found a card like that on the ground before and it turned out to be a Trap card." Hiroki revealed. "The moment I looked at it, the card destroyed the monster I had summoned and took me down to 200 life points. The same thing would probably happen to you if you pick that card up."

"Thanks for the warning." Jaden told him.

"Don't read too much into it." Hiroki replied. "I simply owed you for helping me just a bit ago. Besides, it wouldn't be honorable to just stand by and watch someone fall into a trap that I could've warned them about, even if it is an enemy."

Jaden merely shrugged and continued on toward them room. In moment the three entered the room to find it empty. Suddenly a flash of red light went off, and standing in the center of the room was a large red and white bipedal robot with a hunched back and large shoulders that resembled parts of an engine, complete with chrome pipes that pointed straight up. On the sides of its head were silver blade-like horns, and on each forearm was a large chrome blade.

"Fiendish Engine Omega!" Hiroki identified.

"Go get 'em, Vapor!" Jaden commanded.

Vapor leapt into the air and struck the killer robot with the tip of his spear, taking a sliver out of the robot's HP. Fiendish Engine Omega recovered and knocked Vapor away, striking him with one of his blades in the process. Vapor landed on his feet, but lost a chunk of HP from the attack.

Jaden drew another card from his deck. "Go, Elemental Hero Neos!"

The white hero of space appeared in the chamber and charged at Fiendish Engine Omega. Neos punched the robot in the face, taking another chunk off its HP. The killer robot recovered and struck Neos in the side of the chest with his blade, causing his HP to drop a bit. Neos jumped back and Vapor leapt in for another strike. The aquatic hero's spear pierced the demon engine's chest and took his HP down another small amount. Neos charged in for another attack and punched Fiendish Engine Omega in the face. The robot's HP went down into the yellow zone.

"This thing sure is putting up a fight." Jaden observed.

Suddenly Fiendish Engine Omaga knocked the two heroes away as thick smog blew from the pipes on his shoulders. The killer robot's armor began to glow a burning red.

"It's activated its effect!" Hiroki realized. "Which means his ATK has just gone up by 1000!"

The killer robot then began to move faster and slashed at Neos and Vapor. Vapor took to slashes to the chest and his HP dropped to zero. The aquatic hero shattered to bits and Jaden's life points took a drop to 2200. Neos took another hit as well and his HP dropped into the low yellow.

Hiroki gritted his teeth and drew another card from his deck. "I summon Warrior Dai Grepher!"

Appearing in the chamber was a muscular male warrior with dark hair. He had on long dark pants and boots, along with a sleeveless dark shirt with a sort of hood that went up around the sides of his head. A black metal band was around each of the warrior's upper arms.

"Hikori?" Jaden responded.

"I equip Dai Grepher with Lighting Blade, raising his ATK to 2500!" Hiroki announced. An electrified sword appeared in his hand. "Dai Grepher, attack Fiendish Engine Omega!"

Dai Grepher cried out and charged past Neos at the robot. The warrior swung the blade of his sword into the robot's chest, taking its HP down a bit further.

"Neos! Move in and hit him again!" Jaden ordered.

Dai Grehper jumped back to avoid the swing of the demon engine's right arm blade. Neos charged in soon after and delivered another punch to the robot's face, taking another chunk of off its HP. Suddenly it sounded as though something exploded inside Fiendish Engine Omega and its body stopped glowing. Fiendish Engine Omega's HP went down to a red sliver.

"Looks like you hit it pretty hard." Hiroki assumed.

"No, I think it just suffered the backlash of its own effect." Jaden replied. "Only instead of destroying itself like it would in a duel, it just lost most of its HP. Which means we can finish this! End this Neos! Attack with Wrath of Neos!"

Neos swung his fist again and struck the demon engine's face. The impact caused the robot's HP to drop to zero and its body to explode with a blast of fire and smoke. As Jaden breathed a heavy sigh, he noticed something shining in the corner of the room. He went over to look and saw that it was a cluster of star chips.

"Looks like I just found three more star chips." Jaden informed Hiroki as he picked them up. "Thanks for helping me in that battle just now. That was pretty brave considering you don't have many life points left."

"I just felt I still owed you for helping me with that Labyrinth Tank before." Hiroki replied. "But you can consider my debt repaid. Now let's get out of here."

With that, Hiroki left the chamber with Dai Grepher. Jaden merely shook his head and left the chamber with Neos.

* * *

Jaden and Hiroki arrived at the door with their warriors to find the rest of the team all gathered with their respective monsters. Jaden gave a wave to the others as they approached.

"We were just thinking of going out to look for you guys." Aster told them. "It kinda looks like you had a difficult time."

"Well, there was a pretty tough monster guarding a few of the star chips." Jaden replied.

"So I guess that means you found some then." Lena assumed.

"Yep, between me and Hiroki, we have six." Jadne confirmed.

"The three of us only found four." Clive revealed. "But now that you two are here, I guess this means we can open the door."

"So who gets to do the honors?" Jaden asked.

"We'll let you do it, Jaden." Aster decided. "Seems only fair since you seemed to find the toughest monster in this castle."

"Hey! I was in that battle too!" Hiroki reminded them.

"Just shut up and give him your chips." Lena told him as she rolled her eyes.

After everyone handed Jaden their star chips, Jaden fit them into the ten holes on the lock. Once he did, the door made a noise and the lock retracted into it. The door went up to reveal a large empty chamber with a green tiles floor. Standing in the middle of the room as the team went in was an unshaven man with blonde hair wearing sunglasses and a bandanna decorated like the American flag on top of his head. He also had on a red long-sleeved shirt with a black leather vest and a pair faded jeans. On the man's left arm was an old Kaiba Corp duel disk.

"Well that figures. Here I am wasting all this time waiting for an opponent, and all I get are a bunch of losers." The man spoke. "Okay. So which of you punks thinks he has what it takes to take me on?"

"Who the hell is this guy?" Lena asked. "He looks like a reject from a biker bar."

"Well what to ya know? Looks like I was right about the opponent on this level." Clive observed.

"You know who he is Clive?" Jaden asked.

"Sure do. That's Keith Howard, aka Bandit Keith." Clive answered. "He was a champion prize hunter in the U.S. before he was beaten in an exhibition duel against Pegasus. After that, he managed to get into the Duelist Kingdom tournament finals, only to be beaten by the great Joey Wheeler himself."

"So which of us is going to face him?" Aster asked.

"Let me have this one, mates." Clive told the others. "With an opponent like this, I'm probably the best one to take him on."

"You sure Clive?" Jaden asked.

"I got this, Fusion Master." Clive assured him. "You just sit back and watch me work. I can guarantee that all of you are in for a real treat."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I hope none of the battle scenes in this chapter seemed rushed. I'll admit that I'm still probably not great at writing scenes like that. Anyway, I hope everyone reading enjoyed this little nod to the Duelist Kingdom arc.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	11. Gambler vs Gambler

**Author's Note:** I probably would've had this chapter up sooner, but my head's been kind of all over the place, what with starting a brand new class next week and all. I'd like to give a quick thank you to my special guest reviewer, currently known as SuperSaiyanGod53 for reviewing the GX/Strawberry Panic crossovers I did for this series.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 10: Gambler vs. Gambler

"You've got a lot of guts for volunteering to face me, punk." Keith told Clive as he stepped up. "I should warn you though that I don't plan on holding back. Don't be surprised that after this duel, you'll be too traumatized to play Duel Monsters or any card game ever again."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that, mate." Clive told him with a confident smirk.

With that, Clive and Keith activated their duel disks. As soon as they did, a familiar blue holographic screen appeared in the air between them.

"Duel initiated." The computer announced. "Activating Field Spell effect of Castle of Fortune. No other Field Spells may be played during this duel."

The holographic screen of the computer vanished, and suddenly the walls of the room turned a gold color. Slot machines appeared along the walls, and in the air around the duelists and the spectators were floating neon holograms of images associated with games of chance like the symbols of playing card suits and the triple seven of a slot machine. Appearing next to the two duelists on Clive's left was a large wheel with a red arrow at the top like the wheel of some kind of game show. The wheel was divided into six differently colored segments. Each segment had different words and numbers written on them in white.

The first segment of the wheel was blue and bore the number one, along with the word, Critical. The wheel's second segment, which was colored green, bore the number two and had the phrase, "Gain 2000 life points". The yellow third segment of the wheel had the number three written on it along the words, "Draw three cards". The fourth segment of the wheel was orange, had the number four, and bore the words, "Minus 400 per card". The wheel's fifth segment was purple and bore the number five along with the phrase, "Minus 1000 – Opponent". Lastly, the sixth and final segment was red and bore the number six along with the word, Fumble.

"Well, this has turned into my kinda place." Clive declared as he looked around.

"Why are we suddenly standing in the middle of a casino?" Lena asked as she looked at the transformed surroundings.

"I'm starting to think Clive was right. Maybe he is the best one for this duel." Jaden suggested to the others.

"Why do you say that?" Hiroki asked.

"I think I know why." Aster responded. "I can tell from some of the cards he's used since we entered this simulation. Clive's a gambling duelist, isn't he Jaden?"

"Yep." Jaden confirmed. "This duel's going to be an interesting one."

"I'm going first." Keith declared as he drew a card from his deck. "I discard a card from my hand and activate the effect of Castle of Fortune! Now the wheel next to us will spin and activate whatever effect it stops on."

As soon as Keith discarded a card, the wheel next to the battlefield began to spin hard on its own. The pointer at the top clicked against the rapid pegs on the outer rim of the wheel like a playing card clipped to the spokes of a bicycle wheel. After a few moments the wheel began to slow down, and soon the pointer stopped on the green segment baring the number two.

"Not bad at all." Keith declared. Suddenly he glowed with a feint green aura and his life points climbed up to 6000. "Now I summon Roulette Barrel in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on Keith's side of the battlefield was a machine that looked like the rotating cannon of a tank. Attached to the bottom of the cannon was a multicolored hexagonal wheel baring stylized white numbers.

"You just played one of my favorite cards." Clive told Keith.

"Yeah? Well it probably won't be your favorite once this duel's finished." Keith told him. "I equip Roulette Barrel with the Spell card, 7 Completed and raise its DEF by 700 points." The cannon began to glow with a blue aura. "That ends my turn."

Clive drew his first card. "Tell me something, Bandit Keith. Are you the only one who can use the effect of the Field Spell we're standing in, or can we both use it?"

"Hey, if you want to take a spin at the wheel, knock yourself out kid." Keith told him. "Just be careful with it though. You might not get a result you like. For instance if you get a four, you'll take 400 points of damage for each card in your hand."

"I'll take my chances." Clive told him. "I discard a card to spin the wheel of Castle of Fortune!"

As soon as Clive inserted a card into the Graveyard slot of his duel disk, the wheel began to spin again. After a few moments, the wheel stopped on the yellow segment baring the number three.

"Looks like fortune's smiling on me, since I get to draw three more cards." Clive declared as he drew from his deck again. "For my next move, I summon Snipe Hunter in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Clive's side of the battlefield was a small purple demon wearing a black leather bodysuit with an attached mask and short sleeves and pant legs. The demon had a small pair of batwings on its back and another pair on the top of its head. Its eyes were red and yellow, and hanging out of its mouth was a long red tongue. The demon's hands had on fingerless black gloves, and in its left hand it carried with a multicolored wheel on top baring white numbers from one to six. Attached to the center of the left side of the wheel was a small red arrow.

"Snipe Hunter can't take out Roulette Barrel in battle since it has 2700 DEF right now, but there is another way he can take it down." Clive continued. "I activate Snipe Hunter's effect. By discarding one card, I can spin the roulette on Snipe Hunter's gun. And if the arrow lands on a number other than one or six, he can take out one monster."

Snipe Hunter closed one of his eyes and took aim at Roulette Barrel. The arrow on the gun began to spin and landed on the number six. Snipe Hunter pulled the trigger of the ray gun, but nothing happened. The little demon tried the trigger a couple more times and then looked at his gun while scratching his head.

"Guess your luck's not as good as you thought, huh punk?" Keith laughed.

"Hey. You can't win 'em all." Clive shrugged. "I'll just set three cards on the field and end my turn."

Keith drew his next card. "I discard another card to activate Castle of Fortune's effect and take another spin at the wheel!"

Once Keith discarded a card, the wheel next to the two duelists began to spin again. The wheel began to slow and looked like it was going to stop on the orange number four segment, but the pointer clicked past one more peg and stopped on the purple number five slice.

"Hah! Eat 1000 points of damage, punk!" Keith told Clive.

A bolt of lightning suddenly came down from above and struck Clive, nearly knocking him onto his butt. As smoke rose from Clive's body, his life points dropped down to 3000.

"For my next move, I summon Mechanicalchaser in Attack Mode!" Keith announced.

Appearing on Keith's side of the battlefield was a robot with a floating spherical yellow and grey body. On the top of the sphere was a pair of yellow wings, and on the front was a grey head with a single red eye. Both sides of the sphere had three slender grey arms that were attached with six blue spherical joints. Each of the robot's left arms ended with a curved blade, while all of its right arms ended with cuff-like pincers, one of which held a wooden spear. Dangling beneath the robot like a pendulum was a sword.

"I equip Mechanicalchaser with 7 Completed and raise his ATK by 700 points!" Keith announced. The robotic hunter began to glow with a red aura. "Now I activate Roulette Barrel's effect! You can think of this as an improved version of that Snipe Hunter of yours, punk. Now the cannon on Roulette Barrel's gonna spin around twice, and whichever two numbers it ends up pointing at, I can pick one of them and destroy one monster on the field that has that level. Now spin!"

At Keith's command, Roulette Barrel's cannon began to spin around rapidly. Jaden and the rest of the team watched with baited breath.

"If that cannon points at a four even once, Clive's monster is done for." Aster observed.

"It's done for anyway since it only has 1500 ATK." Lena pointed out. "Mechanicalchaser can take it out no problem."

"Yeah, but at least the damage won't be as bad as it will if Mechanicalchaser attacks directly." Jaden pointed out.

At long last the cannon on Roulette began to slow down. It stopped at the number four, only to turn two more times and land on the number six. The number six slice of the wheel lit up after the cannon completed its stop.

"So far it looks like your cannon's gonna come up bust, mate." Clive observed.

"Don't get cocky, punk. I've still got one more spin left." Keith pointed out. "Now spin!"

The cannon began to spin around again on Keith's order. Clive and the others watched closely as the cannon's rotation began to slow. It finally stopped again as it landed on the number six once more, but then it turned again and went to the number one, then again to the number three. The cannon turret rotated once more and landed on the number three, causing Jaden and the others to breath a sigh of relief. But then the cannon turned again and finally stopped on the number four. The slice of the wheel with the number four immediately lit up.

"So much for going bust, huh?" Keith spoke with a mad grin. "Alright Roulette Barrel, take aim at Snipe Hunter and fire!"

The cannon rotated a bit and lowered the barrel, taking aim at Snipe Hunter. The little demon noticed the weapon pointing at him and flinched, dropping his ray gun to the ground. Roulette Barrel fired a shell that exploded on impact. The flames from the explosion quickly subsided, and the only thing left of Snipe Hunter was a scorch mark on the ground.

"Mechanicalchaser, attack this punk directly!" Keith commanded.

"Not so fast!" Clive cut in. "I activate my Trap, Negate Attack! So much for your direct attack!"

As the robot hunter flew full speed at Clive, a transparent vortex appeared in front of him. The vortex pushed Mechanicalchaser back over to Keith's side of the field, causing the disgraced prize hunter to scowl.

"Looks like you've played just about every card you have, Keith." Clive observed. "Got anymore moves left?"

"Dammit!" Keith cursed. "I end my turn."

"I hate to admit it, but Jaden's right. This is turning out to be an interesting duel." Hiroki remarked.

"I'll say. Both Clive and that scuzzbag he's dueling could end up shooting themselves in the foot." Lena responded.

"Clive does have a slight advantage though. Bandit Keith has just used up almost every card in his hand." Aster pointed out. "Meanwhile, Clive still has three cards in his hand."

"Yeah. But if Clive can't get rid of Keith's monsters on his next turn, he's in real trouble." Jaden pointed out.

Clive drew his next card. "For my first move, I activate Pot of Greed and draw two more cards. Now I discard another card to take another spin of the wheel with Castle of Fortune's effect!"

"Sure you wanna do that, punk?" Keith asked. "I don't mind of course, but as bad off as you are right now, you might only end up digging yourself a deeper grave."

"What can I say? Gambling is in my blood." Clive replied with a shrug. "My dad was a professional gambler of sorts who'd go to casinos all around the world and ended up making a small fortune. Eventually he settled down and opened his own casino. But when you think about it, all us duelists are gamblers in a way. Our luck can change in an instant with each card we draw. And in moments like these when our backs are against the wall, the only thing to do is take a chance on an all or nothing shot! Which is what I'm gonna do now!"

With that, Clive discarded a card into the Graveyard slot of his duel disk and the wheel began to spin. After a few moments it stopped and the arrow landed on the green number two slice of the wheel. Clive pumped his fist in triumph as he glowed with a feint green aura and his life points rose to 5000.

"Looks like my luck's starting to turn back around." Clive declared. "Now we'll see if I can keep this streak going. I activate the Trap, Level Conversion Lab! I start by revealing a monster in my hand and then roll a die. If the result of that die is a one, I have to send that monster to the Graveyard. But if the result is something other than a one, that monster's level becomes equal to the result until the end of the turn. And now, I present the monster I'll be using this effect on, Barrel Dragon!"

"What the… Barrel Dragon? That's one of my cards, you punk!" an outraged Keith told him.

"It's not like you own the exclusive rights to that card mate." Clive pointed out. "And now for the die roll!"

With that, a large blue die flew out of the illustration of Clive's large Trap card. The die clacked on the ground for a few moments before landing on a one.

"Looks like your luck's not as good as you thought." Keith declared.

"No worries. I was prepared for something like this." Clive told him. "I activate my other Trap, Dice Re-Roll! This card lets me negate the result of a die roll and roll it again!"

The blue die from Clive's first Trap burst to dust and vanished from the field. A second die flew from the Level Conversion Lab card and landed on a three.

"Now that's more like it!" Clive declared. "I think you can guess what happens next, Keith. I summon Barrel Dragon in Attack Mode!"

Materializing on Clive's side of the field was a massive iron-grey mechanical dragon with a long gun barrel for a snout. In place of arms, the bipedal dragon had a pair of similar gun barrels like the one on its head.

"Barrel Dragon is just strong enough to take down that powered up Mechanicalchaser of yours in battle, but Roulette Barrel's another story." Clive continued. "So I activate Barrel Dragon's effect! I flip three coins, and if at least two of them are heads, your Roulette Barrel's history!"

Suddenly three large coins flew through the air from behind Clive and landed on the battlefield. Two of the coins landed with an eye-like symbol facing up, while the third landed showing a side that had nothing on it.

"Yeah! I am on fire!" Clive cheered. "Barrel Dragon, blow Roulette Barrel away!"

The mechanical dragon fired two rounds from the gun barrels on its head and left shoulder. Both rounds struck Roulette Barrel, destroying in an explosion that sent flaming debris flying across the battlefield. Keith scowled as he looked at the flaming wreckage of his monster.

"Now to take out your other monster. Barrel Dragon, attack Mechanicalchaser!" Clive commanded. "Gun Cannon Shot!"

Barrel dragon fired another round from the barrel on its head at Mechanicalchaser. The robot hunter exploded upon being hit, and Keith's life points took a slight drop to 5550.

"I'll end my turn there." Clive announced.

Keith cursed under his breath as he drew his next card. "I activate Card of Sanctity, letting us both draw until we each have six cards in our hands! Now I discard a card to activate Castle of Fortune's effect!"

The wheel of fate began to spin again as soon as Keith placed another card in his Graveyard slot. After a few moments, the wheel stopped on its orange number four segment, causing Keith to curse and stomp the ground. Suddenly red bolts of electricity came down from above and shocked Keith multiple times, bringing his life points to 3550.

"Thanks to Castle of Fortune, Bandit Keith just took 2000 points of damage for the five cards he still had in his hand." Aster observed. "Looks like Card of Sanctity just worked against him."

"Looks like lady luck's switched sides in this duel, huh mate?" Clive told Keith.

"Shut up, you cocky little bastard!" Keith shot back. "You may have had a few good breaks, but your luck ends now! I activate the Spell, Overload Fusion! I remove Barrel Dragon and Blowback Dragon from my Graveyard and fuse them together to summon Gatling Dragon!"

Appearing on Keith's side of the field was another mechanical dragon that was much larger than Barrel Dragon. It was black with gold trim and had a pair of large red wheels instead of legs. In place of arms, the robot dragon had a pair of Gatling guns, and a third Gatling gun acted as its snout.

"Wait, how's it possible for Bandit Keith to summon that Gatling Dragon of his?" a confused Hiroki asked. "He never summoned either of the materials to the field!"

"He discarded his own Barrel Dragon and Blowback Dragon to the Graveyard earlier when he used Castle of Fortune's effect." Jaden realized.

"Not so cocky now, huh punk?" Keith laughed. "Now to give myself even more firepower, I summon Guardian of the Throne Room in Attack Mode!" A tan robot with missiles like the ones Clive and Aster had fought earlier appeared on the field. "Now I activate Gatling Dragon's effect! I flip three coins, and for each one that lands on heads, one opponent's monster gets blow away!"

Three large coins flew through the air from behind Keith and landed in the middle of the battlefield. Two of the coins landed on tails, but one of the coins landed on heads.

"Now it's time for your Barrel Dragon to eat lead! Gatling Dragon, blow it away!" Keith commanded.

Gatling Dragon opened fire and sent a hail of bullets at Clive's Barrel Dragon. The smaller mechanical dragon exploded upon being hit and left nothing behind but a large scorch mark on the ground.

"Now I'm gonna show you hell!" Keith declared. "Gatling Dragon, open fire on that punk! Genocide Gunfire!"

Gatling Dragon roared and opened fire on Clive, prompting the young gambler to raise his arms to try and shield himself. Physically, Clive was unharmed by the barrage of gunfire, but his life points had dropped to 2400.

"Guardian of the Throne Room, open fire!" Keith commanded. "Missile Strike!"

The tan security robot fired all three of the missiles on his back. All three missiles hit their target and struck Clive, creating an explosion around him. When the smoke cleared, Clive was still standing, but his life points had dropped to a mere 750. The throne room guardian's missile launchers were then reloaded by three new missiles that appeared on its back.

"Not so cocky now, huh?" Keith laughed.

"That Bandit Keith guy is nuts!" Lena declared. "Was he really a pro duelist?"

"Actually, I do remember hearing about Bandit Keith since Clive mentioned him." Aster revealed. "If I remember the story right, he was kind of humiliated in that duel he had with Pegasus years ago. According to the story, Pegasus called over some boy from the audience watching the duel to take over for him. And that kid ended up beating Keith easily."

"You've gotta be kidding! How the hell could some random kid from the stands beat an experienced professional like that?" Lena asked.

"The story is that this kid used a sheet of instructions that Pegasus wrote him." Aster answered. "One that told him exactly how to beat the card Bandit Keith was about to play."

"That's impossible!" Hiroki declared.

"Yeah, I call bull on that one." Lena agreed. "There's no way something like that could've happened."

"Pegasus must've used that magic eyeball he said he used to have on Bandit Keith during that duel." Yubel assumed as she appeared behind Jaden. "If there is any truth to that story Aster just told us, a defeat like that must've broken the real Bandit Keith's brain. Still, he doesn't seem as crazy as I used to be."

"I hear that." Jaden quietly agreed.

"I think you've suffered enough for one turn." Keith decided. "I'll set one card on the field and end my turn. Let's see you did your way out of this one, punk."

"Well, I've certainly gotten into a pinch here." Clive observed as he drew his next card. "Let's see if I can turn it all around. I discard a card to activate the effect of Castle of Fortune!"

"Seriously?" Lena exclaimed. "Doesn't he think he's pushed his luck enough?"

"If Clive gets the number four effect of Castle of Fortune, he'll lose!" Aster realized.

"You've got balls, punk. I'll give you that." Keith admitted. "This next spin might end up being your last."

"True. But then again, if I spin that wheel and get a one, all your monsters get destroyed. Isn't that right?" Clive asked. "That's a chance I'm willing to take!"

With that, Clive discarded another card to his Graveyard slot and the wheel began to spin. Jaden and the others watched with baited breath as the wheel finally began to slow. It looked for a moment that the wheel was going to stop on the dreaded fourth segment of the wheel, but it took one more slight turn and the arrow landed on the very outer edge of space number five. A bolt of lightning came down and struck Keith, knocking his life points down to 2550.

"Damn." Keith cursed. "Well, I guess that could've been worse. Too bad for you, my monsters are still on the field."

"Yeah, well… I wasn't really going for destroying your monsters." Clive revealed. "Ya see I was actually going for the same thing you went for. The card I discarded to activate Castle of Fortune just now was my own Blowback Dragon."

"Wait! So you mean…" a stunned Bandit Keith began.

"Yep. I now activate Overload Fusion!" Clive announced. "I remove Barrel Dragon and Blowback Dragon from my Graveyard and summon my very own Gatling Dragon!"

A second Gatling Dragon that was virtually identical to Keith's appeared on Clive's side of the field. The new dragon roared at its counterpart as soon as it appeared.

"I also summon Rocket Warrior in Attack Mode!" Clive announced.

Appearing next to Clive's Gatling Dragon was a small almost toy-like warrior wearing green and yellow armor that looked like it was made from parts of a missile. His right hand wielded a sword, while his left carried a diamond-shaped shield with a gold star on the front.

"Now I activate my Gatling Dragon's effect!" Clive announced. "I flip three coins, and if I get at least two, I can take out both of your monsters!"

Three more large coins flipped through the air from behind Clive and landed on the center of the battlefield. Only one of the coins landed on heads.

"Ah well. Guess I broke even there." Clive shrugged. "I use my Gatling Dragon's effect to take out your Gatling Dragon!"

Clive's mechanical dragon opened fire on Bandit Keith's. The enemy Gatling Dragon exploded on being struck by the hail of bullets and left behind a huge scorch mark on the field.

"It's been fun, but it's time to end this!" Clive declared. "Gatling Dragon, blow Guardian of the Throne Room away! Genocide Gunfire!"

Clive's Gatling Dragon opened fire again and destroyed Guardian of the Throne Room in another fiery explosion. Bandit Keith's life points dropped to 1600. When the flames from the explosion died down though, a large black metal capsule with a door on the front appeared on the battlefield. The door opened up and Guardian of the Throne Room rolled out as if it had never been hit. The capsule vanished a second after the security robot exited it.

"Nice try, punk. But when you took out my throne room guardian in battle, I activated my Time Machine trap and brought it back from the last turn." Keith revealed.

"Well played." Clive praised. "Guess I'll just set one more card on the field and end my turn."

Keith drew his next card. "I discard one more card to activate the effect of Castle of Fortune!"

The wheel spun yet again as soon as Bandit Keith discarded from his hand again. After a few moments, the wheel stopped on the blue number one segment, causing Keith to break out in mad laughter.

"I got a one! You know what that means, don't ya punk? It means all your monsters are destroyed!" Keith told Clive.

Suddenly both of Clive's monsters exploded in a blast of fire and smoke. The smoke cleared after a moment and Clive's side of the battlefield was almost completely bare.

"Looks like luck is back on my side!" Keith declared. "It's probably pointless, but for my next move I summon a second Mechanicalchaser!" A second robot hunter appeared on Keith's side of the field. "Now, Guardian of the Throne Room! Attack him directly!"

"Not so fast! I activate my face-down card, Scapegoat!" Clive announced. "With this card, I summon four Scapegoat Tokens to the field!"

Four floating stuffed sheep that looked as though they were asleep materialized on Clive's side of the field. One of the sheep was a reddish-pink, another was light blue, the third was orange, and the final sheep was yellow.

Keith cursed under his breath upon seeing the four sheep. "Fine then! Mechanicalchaser, Guardian of the Throne Room, rip two of those stuffed animals apart!"

Guardian of the Throne Room fired its missiles at the orange sheep, blowing it away to nothing. As the security robot reloaded, Mechanicalchaser threw its spear at the yellow sheep. The spear went clean through the center of the stuffed animal and caused it to shatter to nothing. The spear vanished and returned to one of Mechanicalchaser's claws.

"Okay ya damn punk. I'll end my turn there." Keith announced.

"Guess it all comes down to this." Clive observed as he drew his next card. "I discard another card and activate Castle of Fortune's effect!"

"Pretty risky move." Keith remarked.

"I know. If I get a four on the wheel, I'll take damage for the three cards still left in my hand and lose." Clive responded.

"It's a little riskier than that." Keith revealed. "If the wheel stops on a six, all your monsters will be destroyed and you'll take 600 points of damage for each one."

"This could be the last gamble." Aster realized.

"So a two in six chance of shooting myself in the foot, eh?" Clive realized. "I think I like those odds."

Clive discarded his card and the wheel began to spin. Jaden and the others watched intently as the wheel slowed. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, the wheel finally slowed, and to the horror of the rest of the team it looked like it was going to stop on the dreaded red segment with the number six. Just as the wheel lost its momentum though, it turned one more peg and stopped on the number one segment.

"Jackpot!" Clive declared as he pumped his fist in victory.

Both of Keith's robots exploded, clouding his side of the field with smoke and flames. The smoke cleared after a moment and an expression of utter rage was on Bandit Keith's face.

"Time to wrap this up. I activate Monster Reborn and summon Rocket Warrior back from the Graveyard!" Clive announced. The toy missile warrior reappeared on the battlefield. "Now I sacrifice Rocket Warrior to summon Maximum Six!"

Rocket Warrior shattered to bits, and in his place appeared a muscular giant with six arms. The Roman numeral six was painted in red on the left side of his chest.

"Since I just tribute summoned Maximum Six, a die his rolled and he gains 200 extra ATK times the result!" Clive announced.

A purple die materialized in the air and dropped to the middle of the battlefield. It clacked on the ground a few times before landing on a four.

"This means that the ATK of Maximum Six goes up to 2700!" Clive announced. "But even if I had rolled a one, his ATK would've been enough to finish you off. Maximum Six, attack Bandit Keith directly! Six-Arm Crush!"

The purple giant rushed across the battlefield and punched Bandit Keith in the chest with one of his fists. Keith's life points dropped to zero and his body shattered into blue polygons. With the duel at an end, Maximum Six and Clive's two remaining stuffed sheep vanished. The inside of the room resumed its original appearance.

"Stage four cleared." The computerized voice announced. "Proceed to stage five." An electric metal door appeared on the far side of the room and opened up.

"That was intense, Clive." Jaden declared as he and the others walked up.

"I'll say." Lena agreed. "You're actually not half bad."

"Why thank you." Clive replied in a suave manner. "You know, I feel like the two of us have grown a bit closer from this little experience. How 'bout you and I go out somewhere for a bite?"

"Your luck's not that good." Lena told him as she gave him a death glare.

"Can't blame a guy for trying." Clive responded as he backed away and held up his hand in surrender.

"C'mon guys. We should get going to the final stage." Aster reminded them.

"Yeah. Blair's waiting for us." Jaden told them.

With that, the team headed through the open door and found they had entered yet another metal corridor. In moments they walked through the open door and found that they had arrived in a desolate grey landscape under a sky completely covered by dark-blue clouds. All the color drained from Jaden's face when he saw where they were. Aster ended up having a similar reaction, though it was not as severe as Jaden's.

"This looks like a cheery place." Lena sarcastically remarked as she looked around.

Clive looked and noticed how Jaden was reacting to their new surroundings. "What's wrong, Fusion Master?"

"I… I know this place." Jaden told him. "We're in Dark World."

* * *

Please review and let me know what you think.


	12. Return to Dark World

**Author's Note:** In his last review, my special guest reviewer, SuperSaiyanGod53 asked if there was a connection between this series of GX fanfics and the other Yu-Gi-Oh! stories I've done. I can of course confirm that my _5D's Alternative_ trilogy and my ZEXAL series are indeed part of the same cannon, but I've never been able to decide whether this series was part of the same cannon or not. My hope is that I've written this series in a way that it could go either way in regards to that connection. I can also say though that this series has absolutely not connection to the series of crossovers between Yu-Gi-Oh! and Sword Art Online. And on that note, there's something I'd like to tell everyone reading about that series.

Recently I've been looking back at the first story in that crossover series, _Monster World Online_ , and feeling like I could've done a much better job on it. So I've been trying to decide whether or not I should just take the whole series back to square one and do a remake of it. To help me decide, I've started a little poll that's currently on my profile. If anyone familiar with my _Monster World Online_ story and its sequel is reading this, I ask you to take a look at that poll and vote. I could really use the input. The poll will be open until January 31st, 2016.

Anyway, sorry for the long author's note. On with the chapter.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 11: Return to Dark World

"Dark World?" Clive repeated with a raised eyebrow. "You act like you've been to this place before."

"We have." Aster told him and the others. "It's a long story, and I doubt that you'd all believe it, but Jaden and I both have some painful experience with the real version of this place."

"Real version? What are you talking about?" a confused Hiroki asked.

"Wait a sec, isn't there an archetype of Fiend monsters with the name, Dark World?" Lena asked.

"Yes. They have effects that allow a player to gain an advantage about discarding." Hiroki confirmed. "I guess the field environment we're in is supposed to the world those monsters are from."

Before the conversation could go any further, the computer's blue holographic screen appeared in the air before them. "Welcome to… welcome to… welcome to…"

Suddenly the screen went to static and began crackling with black electricity. Soon after, the sound of a distorted evil laugh could be heard.

"Welcome, Jaden, to Dark World!" the distorted voice greeted. "I'm glad you and your friends could finally make it. To be honest, I was starting to get a little bit bored with all this waiting."

"Where's Blair?" Jaden demanded to know.

"Don't worry, she's here." The voice assured him. "But to get to her, you'll have to come to my castle." With that, the static of the holographic screen cleared to show a map. "Here's where it is, but I'm sure you already knew the way. After all, you know this castle very well."

A slight chill went down Jaden's spine at the voice's comment. He knew exactly what castle that he was talking about. It was the castle he used during his time as the evil and tyrannical Supreme King. The one thing that really bothered him though was how anyone outside of himself and his friends could know about it.

"You and your friends won't have to complete any complicated question to reach me." The voice continued. "Like I told you before, I've gotten bored with all this waiting. When you do get there though, there is one little obstacle that you'll have to get through when you reach my palace. So come on down. I'll be waiting for you."

With that, the computer's holographic screen vanished. Jaden took a deep breath to try and calm down.

"Well, guess the only thing we can do is get a move on to that castle." Clive observed.

"Then let's go." Jaden told the others with a calm yet determined expression. "I'll lead the way."

With that, Jaden headed off on the path the castle. Aster followed close behind and after a moment's hesitation the others joined them. There was an eerie silence at the team traversed the desolate landscape. Their adrenalin was high as they traveled. It seemed like a gang of monsters could pop out and attack them at any moment. Though the pressure was hardest on Jaden and Aster.

"Just try and stay calm." Yubel told Jaden, as she appeared to hover next to him. "You do know that this isn't the real Dark World, right?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't make it any easier." Jaden quietly replied. "Look at what happened to me that time I dueled Kaname on Astraea Island."

"Yeah… I know." Yubel replied sadly.

"…What I don't get is how Dr. Flynn and his team could've made this virtual version of Dark World so perfect." Jaden noted. "Everything is practically just like it was when I ended up going there, but there's no way he could've known what this place was like."

"Maybe he wasn't the one who designed this part of the virtual world." Yubel suggested. "From the very beginning, this whole thing has been a game aimed against you. That NPC duelist we're going off to face right now even said that he captured Blair hoping to bring you here."

"But who would know about that kind of stuff?" Jaden asked.

"I don't know." Yubel answered. "But whoever it is, it's clear that they're very dangerous."

Jaden carried on a quiet conversation with Yubel, though to most of the other members of the team it looked like he was talking to himself. The sight was making Lena a little uneasy.

"Hey Winston, besides Phoenix, you've known Jaden longer than any of us. Is it normal for him to talk to himself like that?" Lena quietly asked.

"I may have noticed him doing that once or twice." Clive answered. "Though I will admit that him doing that right now is a bit odd."

"The guy's totally on edge." Lena remarked. "And what was with him and Phoenix saying that they were in the real Dark World before?"

"I've got no more idea than you do." Clive replied with a shrug. "But what I do know is that the Fusion Master is part of a world that's different than the one we live in every day. I got a little taste of it when I competed with him in the Astraea Star Cup. And I'm guessing that ol' Aster got an even bigger taste of it."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Lena asked.

"My advice is to just roll with it." Clive answered. "Whatever bad mess we get into on this level, the Fusion Master will get us out of it."

The team's trek through the wasteland took them in between two large pointed rock formations. As the passed between the rocks, Jaden and the others stopped when they heard footsteps coming from up ahead. They could tell that there was more than one creature approaching them. The five waited, and walking out from behind one of the rocks was a large muscular black and gold demon with a skull-like face. The demon had a pair of black bat-like wings on his back, and in both of his clawed hands he carried a large axe.

"That's Goldd, Wu Lord of Dark World!" Hiroki identified. "I've seen that card used in televised duels!"

Goldd was soon joined by another demon that was slightly shorter and also had a skull-like face. He was dark-grey and had a large pair of bat-like wings that hung down like a cape. A pair of silver dagger-like blades protruded from the sides of the demon's claws.

"And there's Silva, Warlord of Dark World." Lena identified. "Guess we got the bad luck of running into two of the strongest Dark World monsters in the game."

A third demon then walked up and joined Silva and Goldd. The third monster was shorter than the other two demons and was colored bluish-grey. He had a skull-like face and a blue Mohawk on top of his head. The demon had a pair of light-grey horn-like spikes on the sides of his neck, and in the center of his chest was a small purple gem. He had a long blue cape on his back, and in his right hand he carried a long sword.

"Zure!" Jaden identified as he once again went pale.

"The Knight of Dark World." Clive identified. "Looks like we've got quite a fight on our hands."

As the three demons slowly advanced on the team, two strong emotions rose up in Jaden. One of those emotions was fear, but the other emotion that overtook Jade was much stronger, rage. Jaden's eyes suddenly turned bright gold before glowing in the orange and teal color of Yubel's eyes.

Jaden drew and opening hand from his deck. "I summon Elemental Hero Neos!" The white hero of space appeared between the team and the three demons. "Next I activate Polymerization and fuse Avian and Burstinatix in my hand to summon Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!"

Avian and Burstinatrix appeared in the air and flew into a small transparent vortex that had formed above the team. Soon after, Flame Wingman dropped down out of the vortex to join Neos.

"Finally, I activate Miracle Fusion to remove Avian and Burstinatrix from the Graveyard and summon Elemental Hero Great Tornado!" Jaden announced.

Dropping down out of the dark sky to join Neos and Flame Wingman was another warrior in green, dark-brown, and yellow-tan armor. The new hero had on a tattered dark-brown cape over his left arm. As soon as Great Tornado appeared, a powerful gust of wind blew across the ground and knocked the three Dark World demons off their feet.

"When Great Tornado is summoned, the ATK and DEF of all enemy monsters are cut in half." Jaden announced. "Neos! Flame Wingman! Great Tornado! Tear them apart!"

As Zure and his two companions got back up, Great Tornado brought his hands up and blasted Silva with a powerful twister of wind. Silva withstood the attack, but his HP gauge dropped into the red zone. Once the wind hero's attack ended, Silva charged at Great Tornado and attempted to slash him with the blade of his right hand. Great Tornado easily dodged the attack and delivered a powerful punch to the side of Silva's head. Silva's HP gauge dropped to zero and his body shattered to bits.

At the same time, Flame Wingman fired three shots from the dragonhead on his arm as Goldd charged with his axe raised. Goldd was struck three times and dropped to his knees as his HP went into the red. With a fourth shot from Flame Wingman, Goldd shattered to bits. Meanwhile, Zure swung at Neos with his sword, but the cosmic hero caught the blade in his hands and broke it in half. Neos's eyes then flashed gold and he delivered a punch to Zure's face. The demon knight's HP dropped to zero in an instant and his body shattered to bits. Jaden was breathing heavily as the dust from the battle settled.

"Jaden?" Lena spoke out of concern.

"What!" Jaden snapped as he turned back to look at him. Lena and Hiroki were startled upon seeing Jaden's glowing eyes.

"Whoa! Take it easy, Fusion Master. We're just wondering if you're okay." Clive told him.

"Calm down." Aster told him. "The fight's over for now."

Jaden looked away and took a deep breath. After a moment, his eyes returned to their usual brown.

"Sorry 'bout that." Jaden told the others. "This place has kinda got me on edge."

"Let's keep going to the castle." Aster told the others. "We still need to save Blair and get out of here."

Jaden nodded, and with that he and Aster pressed on with the three Elemental Heroes taking the lead. Clive and the others remained behind for a moment.

"What the hell just happened?" Lena asked. "Why were Jaden's eyes glowing light that?"

"It's like I told you before, Lena. The Fusion Master's from a different world then ours." Clive reminded her. "The best thing to do now is just roll with it."

Clive followed after Jaden and Aster. Lena and Hiroki looked to one another for a moment before finally leaving with the rest of the team. The group continued on towards the castle in silence. As they traveled, they were on the lookout for more Dark World monsters, but no others had shown up since Zure and the other two demons had attacked. The only thing that could be heard was the occasional gust of wind blowing through the wasteland.

After what seemed like several minutes, the dark castle finally came into view. The sight of it stirred up many unpleasant memories for Jaden. He couldn't help but recall all the lives he had crushed in his bloody campaign to complete the Super Polymerization card, and it was from that castle where he directed his armies to do just that. As the team approached the front of the castle, they noticed someone standing on the path to the door, blocking their way in. The person was a young woman with long dark-blue hair with her right hand on her hip and a duel disk on her right arm. Jaden immediately recognized the young woman as Blair and ran up to meet her.

"Blair! Thank goodness we found you!" Jaden told her. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm more than okay." Blair responded with a rather sinister smirk.

"Jaden, something's not right." Yubel told him as she reappeared. "Blair seems off somehow."

"Well, it looks like Blair's safe." Aster assumed.

"Good. Now all we have to do is walk into that castle, beat up the final boss and then we can get the hell out of this damn game." Lena told the others.

"Oh, you won't be going into the castle just yet." Blair told them. "Not until you get past me."

"Blair, what're you talking about?" a confused Aster asked.

"The master told you earlier that in order to get to him, you must overcome one final obstacle!" Blair told them. "I am that obstacle!"

"Seriously?" Clive exclaimed. "We have to beat the girl we came here to rescue in a duel?"

"Beating me is the only way to get through those doors." Blair told them. "Now then, which of you is going to step up to face me?"

"Blair, why are you doing this?" Jaden asked.

"I'm waiting." Blair responded. "If you'd like to take time and draw straws, I'm happy to wait."

"What is with this girl?" Lena asked.

"Maybe she's got some kinda Stockholm syndrome or something." Clive suggested. "I mean she has been held hostage for a while."

"What if this A.I. duelist we're up against found some way to brainwash her?" Hiroki suggested.

"Whatever's going on, if any of us duel Blair and her life points hit zero, she could die." Aster reminded them.

"But there's no other way into the castle." Lena pointed out. "One of us is just gonna have to take the chance and duel her."

"I'll do it then." Jaden decided.

"Jaden, are you sure?" Aster asked.

"If I duel her, maybe there's a chance I can snap Blair out of whatever spell she's under." Jaden answered.

"That's a pretty big gamble, Fusion Master. Even for someone like me." Clive told him. "You sure you wanna try it?"

"No, but what other choice do we have?" Jaden pointed out. "I have to give it a shot."

"Okay then." Aster responded. "Be careful."

Jaden nodded and turned back to face Blair. "Okay Blair. It's you and me."

"I was hoping it would be." Blair told him with a grin. "I am so gonna enjoy this."

Jaden glanced past Blair at the door and noticed that something was blocking the way. It looked like an iron-grey sarcophagus with the face of a woman in agony. On the front was a rectangular screen showing the number 4,000.

"Hey Blair, what's that thing behind you?" Jaden asked.

"Oh, that thing? It's just something a little special that the master put up to block the door." Blair answered. "If you beat me, it'll open up and give you a special prize. Plus the door will open up. If you lose though, that special prize will be destroyed. But then you'll be dead anyway if that happens."

"Well then, I guess we should get this started." Jaden decided.

With that, Jaden and Blair activated their duel disks. The moment they did, the holographic screen of the computer appeared in the air between them.

"Duel, duel, duel initiated." The computer stuttered. "Activating Field, activating Field, activating Field Spell, Garden of the Wicked. No other Field Spells may be activated."

Suddenly the dark-blue sky above changed and became covered with red clouds. A field of blood red flowers sprouted on both sides of the path up to the castle.

"I'll be going first." Blair declared as she drew her first card. "I set one card on the field and summon Mystic Egg in Defense Mode!" A fairly large white egg with gold-colored stars appeared on Blair's side of the field. "That ends my turn."

Jaden drew his first card. "I summon Elemental Hero Wildheart in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Jaden's side of the battlefield was a muscular warrior with tanned skin and long black hair tied in a ponytail. He had red tribal markings on parts of his body, and in his hand he held a large machete.

"Wildheart, attack Mystic Egg!" Jaden commanded. "Wild Slash!"

Wildheart dashed across the field and cleaved the egg with his blade. The egg cracked in half and shattered into particles of golden light, only for them to reform into a new shape. The egg had seemingly hatched to reveal an infant dragon with green scales and a small gold horn growing from its snout.

"Since Mystic Egg was destroyed, it summoned Mystic Baby Dragon from my deck." Blair announced. "Now I activate my face-down card, the Quick-Play Spell known as Dark Mystic Revolution! By sending Mystic Baby Dragon to the Graveyard, I can summon Mystic Devil Dragon!"

Suddenly Mystic Baby Dragon began to give off a black aura. The dragon's scales turned black and he suddenly began to grow and change shape, breaking the pieces of eggshell that he still wore. In a matter of seconds the dragon was fully grown. He had gained rough red scales over his yellow eyes, and a pair of long curled red horns had grown from the sides of his head. On his back was a large pair of bat-like wings.

"That Blair girl summoned a monster with 3600 ATK that quickly?" a stunned Lena asked. "This is not good!"

"She's using an evil version of the dragon she normally uses." Aster observed. "It's the same kind of thing that happened to Jaden."

"Blair, snap out of it!" Jaden called. "This isn't you at all!"

"I have absolutely no clue what you're talking about." Blair told him. "Now are you done yet?"

"…Fine. I'll lay down a couple face-downs and end my turn!" Jaden announced.

Blair drew her next card and grinned. "Get ready, because I'm gonna show you hell starting right now."

* * *

Please review and let me know what you think.


	13. The Enemy Revealed

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 12: The Enemy Revealed

"To start things off, I activate the effect of Garden of the Wicked!" Blair announced. "By paying 500 life points, I can discard any number of cards from my hand to summon an equal number of Poppy Tokens to the field. So I discard two cards to summon two Poppy Tokens!"

Blair's life points took a slight drop to 3500, and a second later a pair of large flowers sprouted from the ground on her side of the battlefield. The flowers had blood red petals, along with faces consisting of yellow eyes with smiling fanged mouths.

"Mystic Devil Dragon, attack Wildheart!" Blair commanded. "Dark Magical Flame!"

The evil dragon opened his mouth and breathed out a stream of green and yellow flames at Wildheart. Jaden's wilderness hero was instantly vaporized upon being hit, and his life points dropped down to 2900.

"I activate my Trap, Hero Signal!" Jaden announced. "Since one of my monsters was destroyed, I can summon another Elemental Hero from my deck! I summon Elemental Hero Stratos!"

Appearing on Jaden's side of the field in place of Wildheart was a warrior dressed in blue. He had on a while helmet with fins on the sides and a green visor that completely covered his face. On his back was a pair of grey metal wings with propellers built into them.

"Since I just summoned Stratos, I can add another Elemental Hero to my hand." Jaden announced.

"Fine with me. It doesn't really matter." Blair responded. "Because I activate Mystic Devil Dragon's effect! When Mystic Devil Dragon destroys a monster, I can sacrifice another monster I control to have him attack again! So I sacrifice one of my Poppy Tokens so that Mystic Devil Dragon can attack Stratos! Dark Magical Flame!"

One of the demon flowers on Blair's side of the field suddenly burst into green flames and burned completely to ask. Mystic Devil Dragon opened his mouth again and let loose another stream of green and yellow flames.

"Nice try! I activate my Trap, Hero Barrier!" Jaden announced. "This card cancels Mystic Devil Dragon's attack!"

Before the evil dragon's attack could strike, a metal rod appeared in front of Stratos and began to spin around. The spinning rod blocked the dragon's flames completely. When the attack finally ended, the rod vanished.

"Well, since you stopped my attack, I can't use Mystic Devil Dragon's effect to finish you off this turn." Blair observed. "But then I'd be kinda disappointed if I did. I'll just end my turn there."

Jaden drew his next card. "I activate Polymerzation and fuse Stratos with Elemental Hero Sparkman and summon Elemental Hero Great Tornado!"

Stratos flew into the air towards a transparent vortex that had appeared above the battlefield. Sparkman appeared in the air and joined Startos as he flew in. Moments later, Great Tornado dropped down to the ground, creating a massive wind gust that knocked Mystic Devil Dragon onto his back and bent back the two Poppy Tokens.

"When Great Tornado is summoned to the field, the ATK and DEF of all my opponents monsters are cut in half." Jaden announced.

"Well then, it seems you have me at your mercy." Blair responded. "Come on and get me then. I'm all yours."

"If Jaden attacks one of those Poppy Tokens, he'd deal a massive blow to Blair's life points." Hiroki realized.

"All he'd need to do is summon another monster to take out the other token, and that'd be the end of it." Lena added.

"Yeah, but I don't think Jaden's going to do that." Aster told them.

"Great Tornado… attack Mystic Devil Dragon!" Jaden commanded. "Super Cell!"

The hero of wind raised his arms forward and let loose a powerful twister at Mystic Devil Dragon. The evil dragon was torn to shreds and Blair's life points dropped to 2500.

"Well that was disappointing." Blair remarked with an amused smirk. "You could've gone for my throat, and you didn't."

"Snap out of it, Blair! This isn't you!" Jaden told her. "I don't know how, but that master of yours has put you under some kind of spell!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Blair told him. "Now you better start taking this duel seriously, or else your prize will be lost, and so will your life."

"…Fine. I'll lay down a facedown and end my turn." Jaden announced.

"Well damn! He almost had her there and he went easy on her." Lena observed.

"This isn't some virtual opponent he's fighting though." Aster pointed out. "Blair's a friend, and the stakes in this duel are pretty high."

"So what? He's just going to throw the duel?" Lena asked. "It's not exactly like there's another way out."

"I hate to admit it, but I'd probably be doing the same thing Jaden is if I were the one fighting this duel." Hiroki admitted. "If I were forced to choose between my own life and the life of a friend's, I'd pick my friend's life anytime."

"Same goes for me." Clive agreed. "All we can do is wait and hope that the Fusion Master can figure a way out of this."

Blair drew her next card. "First I activate Pot of Greed and draw two more cards. Then I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your face-down card!"

A small twister picked up on Jaden's side of the battlefield. The twister shattered the large card that Jaden had set and vanished.

"Now I activate the effect of Garden of the Wicked!" Blair announced. "I pay 500 life points and discard two cards to summon two more Poppy Tokens."

Blair's life points dropped down to 2000. Soon after, two more evil flowers sprouted on Blair's side of the field.

Now I activate the Spell, Token Thanksgiving!" Blair announced. "By sacrificing my three Poppy Tokens, I gain 800 life points for each one."

The three evil flowers shattered into particles of gold light that flowed into the counter on Blair's duel disk. Blair's life points rose to 4400.

"Now for some fun. I summon Empress Maiden in Attack Mode!" Blair announced.

Appearing on Blair's side of the field was a young woman with long straight black hair and gold eyes. She had on a black leather corset with elbow-high black leather gloves and knee-high black leather boots with high heels. In her hands, the young lady held a long black whip.

"Why would she summon a monster with only 400 ATK to fight Great Tornado?" Hiroki asked.

"It must have a powerful effect to make up for its low stats." Aster assumed.

"Empress Maiden can't be destroyed in battle, and I don't take any damage when she does battle with a monster that has higher ATK." Blair continued. "Empress Maiden, attack Great Tornado! Whip of Submission!"

Empress Maiden laughed as she charged across the field and began striking Jaden's hero of wind with her whip. After taking several lashes from the whip, Great Tornado was still standing and breathing heavily. Empress Maiden cracked her whip to the ground and suddenly Great Tornado's eyes turned pink. Great Tornado then went to stand over on Blair's side of the field next to the brunette.

"Huh? What just happened?" a confused Jaden asked.

"Empress Maiden's effect is what happened." Blair explained. "After she attacks an opponent's monster, that monster becomes her slave and control of it switches over to me. But don't worry. I can't use that monster for an attack during the same turn I take control of it. So I'll just end my turn here."

Jaden drew his next card and scowled. "I summon Elemental Hero Clayman in Defense Mode!" The stone armored hero appeared on Jaden's side of the field in a crouching position. "That ends my turn."

"Running scared, huh?" Blair taunted as she drew her next card. "Guess that prize is going to be forever out of reach."

"Just stop this, Blair!" Jaden told her. "This isn't you! I know you have to remember how things really are between us!"

"I really don't know what the hell you're talking about!" Blair told him. "Now then, Great Tornado! Blow Clayman away! Super Cell!"

Empress Maiden cracked her whip to the ground. Great Tornado flinched and sent forth a powerful twister at Clayman that tore the stone hero apart.

"And now, Empress Maiden! Attack Jaden directly!" Blair commanded. "Whip of Submission!"

The brunette charged back across the field and laughed as she began to lash Jaden with her whip. The brown-haired duelist raised his arms to try and shield himself from the attack. When it finally ended, Jaden's life points dropped to 2500.

"Looks like I have you completely at my mercy." Blair declared. "I'll end my turn."

"Dammit! There has to be a way to get through to her." Jaden spoke under his breath.

"I don't think there is." Yubel told him as she appeared next to him.

"Have you given up on her?" Jaden asked.

"No, but there's something bugging me about this whole duel." Yubel replied. "Blair keeps making a big deal about the prize that's supposed to be in that sarcophagus behind her. It's just big enough to hold someone her size."

"So what?" Jaden asked. "I don't care about some prize. The only thing I care about is saving Blair. And to do that, I need to snap her out of whatever spell the final boss of this game has her under."

"That's the thing though, I'm not really sure if the girl we're fighting now is under a spell." Yubel replied. "Now maybe I'm wrong since I don't know a lot of your friends like you do, but isn't Blair right-handed?"

"Well yeah, but…" Jaden began.

Suddenly Jaden noticed which arm Blair's duel disk was on. It was on her right arm, and that was the kind of duel disk that only left-handed duelists used.

"Do you mean…?" Jaden began to ask Yubel.

"Exactly." Yubel answered with a nod. "If this final boss we're up against is the one controlling the game world, then something like this probably wouldn't be beyond his power."

"Okay then. In that case, I know exactly what to do!" Jaden declared as he drew his next card. "I activate Pot of Greed and draw two more cards from my deck!" As Jaden pulled two more cards from the deck, one of the briefly flashed with a burst of crimson flames "I activate the Spell card, Fake Hero and summon Elemental Hero Neos to the field!" The white hero of space appeared on the battlefield.

"So you finally brought out your ace." Blair observed. "He's not going to do you much good here though."

"I activate the Spell card, Primal Awakening!" Jaden announced. "Since Neos is on the field, I can add a certain pair of cards to my hand! Now I activate one of those two cards, a Ritual Spell known as Rite of the Primal Flame!"

Two ornate golden torches appeared to Neos's left and right. The heads of both torches bore the symbol that was on Neos's chest. A red circle lined with strange ancient text then appeared on the ground around the hero's feet.

"Normally I'd have to sacrifice monsters who's total levels added up to eight or more for this Rutial Spell." Jaden continued. "But I can also use Neos for the cost of the entire ritual! So I sacrifice Neos to change him into his more ancient form… Primal Neos!"

Two small red fireballs shot from the torch flames into the gem on Neos's chest. A pillar of red flames shot up from the ground inside the circle and completely engulfed Neos. In moments the flames subsided and the torches used for the ritual vanished. Much of the hero's body had turned light blue. The only parts that had remained white were the front of his neck and the curved horn on his head, and the undersides of his shoulder pads. The red lines on the front of the Neos's torso and legs had become more curved.

Grey spikes had grown on Neos's shoulders and he had wide bronze-colored bracelets on his wrists. Hanging down around his waist like a skirt was a tattered brown piece of cloth. With the cloth was a grey belt that had a golden buckle made to look like a human skull with horns. On his feet, the newly transformed Neos wore a pair of knee-high boots lined with brown fur. The gem in the center of Neos's chest had turned pinkish-red and had become heart-shaped. Five red markings in the shape of flames adorned the warrior's chest around them gem, and he had four more flame-shaped markings on his arms. Long orange hair had grown down from the back of Neos's head, and his face had taken on a mask-like appearance with a mouth lined with flat white teeth.

"No way! Since when did Jaden have a Neos Ritual Monster?" a stunned Aster asked.

"This is my first time seeing it too." An equally stunned Clive responded.

"Wherever he got it, it looks like a total badass." Lena declared.

"Next I summon Neo-Spacian Grand Mole in Attack Mode!" Jaden announced.

Appearing next to Primal Neos was a large mole-like creature covered in brown fur. Over its shoulders were pieces of grey armor that looked as if they formed two halves of a drill bit.

"I now return Primal Neos and Grand Mole to the deck to contact fuse them into Primal Grand Neos!" Jaden announced.

Primal Neos and Grand Mole jumped high into the sky quickly vanished from sight. A few seconds later, the atavistic hero dropped back to the ground in a new form. The force of his impact on Jaden's side of the field had enough force to leave a small crater and shook the earth so strongly that it almost knocked Blair off her feet. Primal Neos's once blue skin had turned stone grey, and he had olive-green and brown armor similar to a Roman centurion covering his shoulder's torso and lower legs. Hanging from around the hero's waist was a skirt of brown armor, and on his head was an olive-green helmet with two grey drill bits on the sides like horns. On the hero's left forearm was an armored green gauntlet resembling a large claw, and covering his right arm was a large drill. Decorating the armor around the gem embedded in Neos's chest were gold markings resembling broken rocks.

"Since Primal Neos was returned to the deck, I can return Rite of the Primal Flame to the deck as well!" Jaden continued. "Now I activate Primal Grand Neos's effect! Once per turn, I can return all monsters my opponent controls that have ATK equal to or less than Primal Grand Neos's ATK to the hand!"

The drill on the barbarian hero's right arm began to spin. He kneeled down and drove the drill into the earth. The ground suddenly opened up under Empress Maiden and Great Tornado and they plummeted down into an endless expanse of stars. With the two monsters gone, the ground closed back up. All the color drained from Blair's face.

"Primal Grand Neos gains 800 ATK for each monster returned to the hand by this effect." Jaden continued. "Which means his ATK shoots up from 2800 to 4400!"

"Wait, is he seriously going to attack Blair?" Aster asked.

"Neos, attack Blair directly!" Jaden commanded. "Nebula Rush!"

Primal Grand Neos charged at Blair as the drill on his arm began to spin. The barbarian hero thrust his drill into Blair's chest, causing her life points to drop to zero. Blair's body shattered into blue polygons and Neos vanished from the field. The area surrounding the castle resumed its original appearance. At the same time, the counter on the sarcophagus that had been behind Blair dropped to zero and the lid opened up. A second Blair Flannigan dropped out of the coffin as it shattered to bits. Jaden immediately rushed over to the young woman's unconscious form.

"…She's out cold." Jaden told the others after kneeling down to check on the other Blair.

"Now wait just a damn minute!" Lena exclaimed. "What the hell happened just now?"

"The Blair that I was dueling wasn't the real one. It was another NPC duelist like the ones we've been facing all the way here." Jaden explained. "The real Blair was in that coffin the whole time."

"I get it. The real Blair was the 'prize' that the fake one kept talking about." Clive realized. "So if you had lost, the real Blair would've been killed too. It was the perfect con."

"But I don't get how there could've been a fake Blair." Hiroki interjected.

"The final boss of this game created her." Jaden explained. "He said he had total control over the game, so creating another game character for us to fight was probably something he could do."

"What I don't understand is how you were able to figure out that the Blair you were dueling was a fake." Aster told Jaden. "I mean what tipped you off?"

"The real Blair's right-handed." Jaden answered. "The Blair I was dueling was left-handed."

"Of course! I should've caught onto that!" Aster realized.

"Okay, so I guess now we can go in and kick that final boss's butt." Lena assumed.

"Let's wait for Blair to wake up first." Jaden told them. "I think we'll all need to be on our feet for this battle."

* * *

Kaiba leaned against the wall as Alec and one of his assistants continued trying to find a way to unplug the artificial intelligence device that was controlling the simulator. They had been making very little progress, and Kaiba's patience was wearing thin. Suddenly Kaiba's phone began to ring. He pulled it out and saw that it was the investigator he had put on the case of who had secretly installed the program in the first place.

Kaiba put the phone to his ear. "What have you found?"

 _"We've finished the background checks of all employees that have been working at the lab for the last five years."_ The investigator answered over the line. _"All of them seem to check out, though we are digging deeper with some of them to make sure. My best guess now though sir is that it's someone who started working there in the past few months."_

"Understood. Begin checking into the newer employees and double-check all the older ones you find suspicious." Kaiba ordered. "Contact me the second you find something."

 _"Will do, sir."_ The investigator replied.

Kaiba hung up his phone. "Flynn!"

"Yes Mr. Kaiba?" Alec responded as he quickly came over.

"So far, the older members of your staff check out." Kaiba informed him. "Have there been any new people that have joined your project's team in the last few months?"

"Well there's my assistant, Rita Mendez." Alec answered. "But I strongly doubt that she's the one behind all this."

"We have a rat scurrying around this lab, one that could cause this company some major damage." Kaiba sternly reminded him. "Until we find that rat, no one is above suspicion. I'm going to have my investigator start digging into your assistant. In the meantime, have you made any progress disconnecting that damn A.I.?"

"I'm afraid not." Alec answered sadly. "At least no way that wouldn't harm the people currently in the simulator."

"Dr. Flynn!" Alec's assistant Randy called.

"Did you find a way to disconnect the program?" Alec asked as he came over with Kaiba.

"No, but I identified who's brain scan was used for the A.I." Randy answered. "It's… a former Duel Academy student."

"My god!" Alec exclaimed as he looked at the name on the screen. "How is it even possible that we'd have his brainwave pattern?"

"Apparently after his third year at the academy, he had undergone a complete physical." Randy explained. "This included an in-depth neurological scan to make sure there weren't any problems. Though I have no idea why such a scan was ordered."

Kaiba looked at the name and chuckled. "Well now. Even with all that's going on, this is an amusing little twist. I actually wouldn't mind seeing the duel between this A.I. and the duelist he's based on."

* * *

Jaden and the rest of the team waited outside the castle for Blair to wake up. After what seemed like ten minutes, Blair finally stirred and opened her eyes. She looked around and suddenly became frightened upon seeing Jaden in the group.

"Take it easy, Blair! You're okay." Jaden assured her.

"Just try and take it easy." Aster told her.

Blair seemed to ignore Aster and the others and looked closely at Jaden. "…Jaden? That… that is really you, isn't it?"

"Of course it is?" Jaden answered with a half smile. "Who else would it be?"

"Well, now that your friend's awake, let's take down that final boss and get the hell out of here." Lena told the others. "I'm getting pretty damn sick of this world."

"I'd really like to get out of here too." Jaden agreed. "Especially considering where we are now."

"Wait, Jaden! There's something you need to know about the final boss!" Blair told him.

"We know Blair. He's some kind of A.I." Jaden replied. "Whatever tricks he has up his sleeve though, we're ready for him."

"No! That's not what I'm trying to tell you!" Blair continued. "The final boss, he's…"

"What's the holdup here?" very familiar voice asked from the castle door. "I would've thought you'd have come into my castle a long time ago after beating my little obstacle."

Jaden and the others looked, and walking through the door was a young man who was almost identical to Jaden. The two big differences were that his eyes were gold instead of brown and his academy jacket was black instead of red.

"No… no way!" a totally stunned Jaden spoke. "You're… the final boss?"

"That's right." The other Jaden confirmed. "You can call me Haou."

"But… but you're…" Jaden began.

"That's right. I'm you." Haou confirmed. "And before this game is over, I'm going to destroy you."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** The duel between Jaden and "Blair" was actually a little tricky to write because I had to come up with some new cards for "Blair". Of course the cards themselves were fairly easy to come up with since all I needed to do was figure out evil versions of cards Blair used in the anime. Empress Maiden for instance is supposed to be an evil counterpart to Blair's Maiden in Love monster. I'm sure some of you reading remember Primal Neos from my last GX story, _Ritual of Doom_. That monster is far from being done in this little series of mine.

As for the way Jaden figured out that the Blair he was dueling was a fake, I kind of ripped that off from an episode of _Star Trek TNG_. But having Jaden duel a fake Blair was easier than figuring out a way for Jaden to break Blair free of some kind of mind control and have them both walk out of the duel alive.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	14. Mirror, Mirror

**Author's Note:** Apologies for the delay with this chapter. I'm still kind of getting used to my new online class. Plus admittedly my mind's been on a couple other projects for the last few days.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 13: Mirror, Mirror

"So… you're a computer program based on me." Jaden realized. "But you're also an A.I.? How's that even possible?"

"I kinda figured you'd ask something like that." Haou responded. "I know I probably would if I were in your shoes. Fortunately, the person who installed me provided me with an explanation. Do you remember what happened right after you returned to Duel Academy after the whole Dark World thing? About how you were required to undergo a thorough physical?"

"Yeah. For awhile, everyone was freaked out that something might be wrong with me." Jaden recalled. "I mean I guess it makes sense that they would since vanished after going to another dimension. But everything was fine."

"Of course it was. But that's not the point." Haou told him. "One of the medical tests you were put through was a detailed neurological scan using the highest level of technology. That scan made a copy of your brainwave pattern, and that pattern was eventually used to make me."

"So what you're saying is that your mind is a digital copy of Jaden's." Aster realized.

"Right you are, Aster." Haou confirmed. "Which means I'm not just some computer-controlled puppet like all the duelists you've fought up to now. I'm able to think for myself."

"So what is it that you want?" Jaden asked Haou. "Who put you in this simulated world to do all this?"

"Who put me in here? I can't say." Haou answered. "I was only given information on my origin. But as for what I want, that's obvious. I want to destroy you! I want to watch die a horrible and painful death! And I will not rest until I see that happen! Killing you is the whole reason why I exist!"

"Why? Did the person who put you in here program you to want that?" Jaden asked.

"…The only way for this simulation to end is for one of you to beat me in a duel." Haou told them after a pause. "You're all welcome to try and defeat me, of course. But I should warn you that I play for keeps. If any of you lose a duel with me, you'll be dead. It would've been the same for Blair when she faced me, but I needed her alive to serve as bait."

"If you want a duel, you've got one!" Jaden told him.

"Hold on, Jaden! I think we should talk about this for a bit." Aster cut in.

"Yeah mate. Having you duel your evil twin there might not be the best idea." Clive agreed.

"Looks like you all need some time to figure out what you want to do." Haou observed. "Very well, I'll give you twenty minutes to decide who will face me. If you can't decide after the twenty minutes are up, then I'll come after you and decide which of you I'll duel. I'll be waiting in the castle for your decision."

With that, Haou walked back into the castle. Jaden and the others meanwhile gathered together to decide what to do.

"Well, this has gotten totally messed up." Lena declared.

"I don't get why you guys didn't let me go ahead and duel Haou." Jaden told the others.

"Because having you duel a copy of yourself probably isn't the best idea." Aster explained. "Think about it. He could easily predict your every move."

"Don't forget that I could predict his too." Jaden pointed out.

"Maybe, but the other problem is that I'm not sure you could think straight that duel." Aster told him. "I'm sure Haou reminds you of the way you were when you were the Supreme King."

"The what?" Lena responded with a raised eyebrow.

"That may be true, but I'm still the best person to take him on." Jaden insisted.

"That's where you're wrong, Jaden Yuki." Hiroki told him. "The one here best suited to take on that virtual copy of you is me. And since I'm guessing this Haou is a Hero user like you, there's no way I can pass up challenging him."

"You do remember that the Fusion Master creamed you in a duel before this whole ride began, right?" Clive pointed out to Hiroki.

"He only got lucky!" Hiroki told him.

"Yeah well… this may make me sound like a coward, but I don't think my luck would be good enough against this fake Fusion Master." Clive told them. "One thing my dad taught me about gambling is to never bet more than you can afford to lose, especially when you think the odds are against you."

"You're smart not to want to go against that other Jaden." Blair told Clive. "Keep in mind, I've dueled him once before. He's extremely powerful."

"Well, maybe I should take a crack at this other Jaden." Lena suggested.

"Nah. I'm probably the better choice." Aster told them. "After all, I have beaten the real Jaden before."

"…Guys, why don't we take a little break to cool down before we decide anything?" Jaden suggested.

"That's probably a good idea." Aster agreed. With that, Jaden nodded and began to walk off. "Hey, where are you going?"

"I just need to be by myself for a bit." Jaden told them.

"Well… okay. But don't do anything rash." A suspicious Aster told him.

Jaden nodded and headed away from the castle. After a few moments he came to a large rock several feet away and ducked behind it. Once he was certain that he was alone, the wandering pro duelist leaned against the side of the rock and sighed.

"Tough day, huh?" Yubel asked as she appeared.

"You can say that again." Jaden replied.

"Aster is right about one thing. That game character of you must remind you of the way you used to be." Yubel deduced. "The way you were when the darkness inside you went out of control."

"I'm not the same person I was from back then." Jaden pointed out.

"Neither of us is." Yubel replied. "You're going to go ahead and duel him, aren't you?"

"I can't let any of the others risk their lives like that." Jaden told her. "Especially when I'm the one that other me is really after. Besides… there's something about Haou that I want to know."

"And what's that?" Yubel asked.

"Whether or not Haou was just programed to want to kill me, or if he really wants me dead." Jaden answered. "I think the only way to find that out is to duel him."

"Then I guess we know what you have to do." Yubel replied.

"Yep. It's time I go and face myself." Jaden decided.

* * *

Kaiba was leaning against the wall of the lab as he watched Alec and Randy continue their work to try and shut down the simulation from the outside. As dire as the situation was, the legendary duelist couldn't help but be rather amused by the way thing had turned out. The final enemy of the simulation was based on one of the very heroes that Alec had sent in to rescue Blair. Kaiba couldn't help but wonder about what would happen if a duelist faced his exact double.

"Mr. Kaiba?" Alec spoke as he approached. "I'm afraid we're making very little progress trying to disengage the artificial intelligence."

"I see." Kaiba replied. "What about making it so we can see what's going on in the simulation?"

"Actually we have been working on that, and Randy thinks it might be possible if we bypass a few circuits." Alec answered.

"Good. Get on it right away." Kaiba ordered. "I want to see the duel against that A.I. when it happens."

"May I ask why?" Alec inquired.

"Do you know what a duel is, Flynn? When you get right down to it, a duel is like two mirrors facing one another." Kaiba told him. "In order to win, you have to put yourself in the mind of your opponent, asking yourself how you would respond to the move you've just made. But what if both duelists have the exact same mind? They would know exactly how the other one would think and react. In a duel like that, the only way to win would be for one of them to exploit their own weaknesses and overcome them at the same time."

"I see… you're hoping that Jaden Yuki will end up dueling the digital copy of himself that's running the simulation." Alec realized. "Did you consider the possibility that maybe one of the others might duel him?"

"That thought crossed my mind, but I prefer to be optimistic." Kaiba replied. "In any case, I want that feed into the simulation up and running as soon as possible."

"We'll get right on it, sir." Alec replied.

Suddenly Kaiba's phone began to buzz. He pulled the device out of his pocket and found that he had gotten a text from his investigator.

After reading the text, a small smile appeared on Kaiba's face. "Well, it seems we may have found our mole. I just got some information on your assistant, Rita, specifically a picture of her taken from her driver's license. Tell me Flynn, is this the same woman who's been working for you?"

Kaiba held up his phone and showed Alec the picture of a woman with long unkempt brown hair wearing glasses with thick black round frames. Whoever the woman was, it was not the woman he had hired as his assistant.

"This… this can't be!" Alec exclaimed. "Are you saying that's the real Rita?"

"The records don't lie." Kaiba replied as he put his phone back in his pocket. "The Rita Mendez who's been working here is an imposter."

At that moment, Rita walked into the room looking at the clipboard that was in her hand. "Dr. Flynn, I have the power estimates you wanted."

"You can drop the act, whoever you are." Kaiba told her. "We know you're not the real Rita Mendez."

"I… I don't…" Rita began, but she stopped when Kaiba pull his phone back out to show her the picture he had shown Alec.

In a flash, Rita rushed over and grabbed Randy by the arm, twisting it behind his back. At the same time, she pulled out a knife and put it to his throat.

"Make one false move and you'll be cleaning this man's blood off the floor for weeks." The woman who had been calling herself Rita warned.

"You certainly are quick to show your true colors." Kaiba remarked.

"Keeping up my disguise would be pointless now that you've seen through me." Rita replied. "Besides, I was getting sick of playing the role of the innocent lab tech."

"What have you done with the real Rita Mendez?" Alec demanded to know.

"She's at her apartment, which I've been using as my base of operations." The false Rita answered. "Don't worry, she's alive. I needed her technical knowledge to install that A.I."

"Just who the hell are you?" Kaiba demanded to know.

"I go by the codename, Lamia." The woman answered. "And before you ask me why I did all this, all I'll say is that I was ordered to by my commander."

"And just who is this commander of yours?" Kaiba asked.

"That, I won't tell you." Lamia replied. "What I will tell you though is that he wants Jaden Yuki dead. All this was to achieve that objective."

"I don't know what grudge this commander of yours has against some bush league duelist like Jaden Yuki, but I'm going to make you pay for jeopardizing my company like this!" Kaiba told her.

"I don't have time for the likes of you." Lamia told him.

Suddenly Lamia pushed Randy forward towards Alec and Kaiba. While they were distracted by this, the assassin dashed out of the room and was gone in a flash. As Alec checked to see if Randy was okay, an enraged Kaiba went over to an intercom built into the wall.

"Attention all security personal! The woman known as Rita Mendez is an imposture! I want her captured at all costs!" Kaiba ordered.

* * *

Haou waited patiently atop his throne in the castle for someone to show up to duel. He found that he really didn't care which member of the team showed up since he was going to destroy them all in the end anyway. Plus he was certain that there was only one person who would step up to face him. Suddenly Haou heard footsteps coming towards the door to the throne room. He smirked when he saw that it was Jaden, exactly the person he had been expecting.

"I knew it would be you in the end." Haou told Jaden. "And you even showed up five minutes early. I'm guessing your friends don't know that you're here. You probably went through the secret entrance into the castle, didn't you?"

"I can't let my friends risk their lives against someone who's after me." Jaden told him. "You're my problem, and I'll solve it myself."

"Of course. You couldn't do anything else." Haou replied as he got off his throne. "So, shall we begin this little duel?"

As Jaden stepped forward to take Haou on, Aster arrived at the door to the throne room with the rest of the team. "Jaden, what the hell are you doing?"

"I'm doing exactly what it looks like, Aster." Jaden told him. "This is something I have to do myself."

"Are you crazy? This opponent can anticipate every one of your moves!" Aster pointed out.

"Forget it, Aster. There's no talking Jaden out of this." Blair told him. "Jaden's made up his mind that he has to do this."

"Don't worry Aster. I'm happy to take you on once I kill Jaden." Haou told him. "In the meantime, just relax and enjoy the show."

"You're not taking on anyone after me!" Jaden told Haou. "One way or another, I'm bringing this whole thing to an end!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Sorry if this chapter was just a little bit too short. I really wanted to get one more update done before working on the final duel, which I plan to finish outlining before the end of the weekend. Hopefully the duel will be worth the wait.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	15. Return of the Evil Heroes

**Author's Note:** We've now come to the beginning of the end of this story. It took me quite some time to figure out how this final duel was going to go. I hope those of you reading enjoy the end result.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 14: Return of the Evil Heroes

"Before we start, let's do something about your life points." Haou decided. "This duel won't be as fun with you already half dead at the start."

With that, Haou snapped his fingers. A second later, the life point counter on Jaden's duel disc went back up to 4000.

"So, are you ready to do this?" Haou asked Jaden.

"Whenever you are." Jaden replied as he activated his duel disc.

Haou activated his own duel disc in response. As soon as he did, the computer's holographic screen appeared in the air between them, sparking with static.

"Duel initiated." The computer announced. "Activating Field Spell, Skyscraper 3 – Wicked City."

Suddenly Haou's throne room disappeared and Jaden and the others found that they were standing in the middle of a street in city with ruined buildings that had broken windows and graffiti. Thick red clouds covered the sky above them, and lining the streets were damaged parked cars in various states of disrepair.

"What kind of Field Spell is this?" Hiroki wondered as he looked around.

"Looks like a city out of some post-apocalyptic zombie movie." Clive remarked.

"Or a city that was totally ruined by crime." Aster added. "I think I know what kind of monster this Field Spell is supposed to support."

"I'll go first." Haou announced. "First I'll lay down a facedown. Then I summon Elemental Hero Clayman in Defense Mode!" A familiar stone-armored hero in a red mask appeared on Haou's side of the field. "That ends my turn."

Jaden calmly drew his first card. "I activate Polymerization! From my hand I fuse Elemental Hero Sparkman with Necro Guardna to summon Elemental Hero Escuridao!"

Sparkman appeared in the air behind Jaden along with a warrior with long white hair and grey skin, wearing red and black samurai armor. Both warriors entered a transparent vortex that had appeared in the air above the battlefield. Dropping down out of the vortex a moment later was a new slender warrior covered in pitch-black armor. Two long forked and jagged blades jutted out from the warrior's back, and in place of his right hand, the warrior had a weapon with three jagged blades. The dark warrior's body gave off an unearthly blue aura.

"Since I have Elemental Hero Sparkman in the Graveyard, Escuridao's ATK goes up to 2600." Jaden continued. "Next I summon Elemental Hero Startos in Attack Mode!" The metal-winged hero appeared on the field next to Escuridao. "I activate Stratos's effect! When Stratos is summoned to the field, I can destroy an opponent's Spell or Trap card for every other Elemental Hero I control! Since I already have Escuridao on the field, I can use Stratos to destroy whatever Trap you have waiting!"

The propellers built into Stratos's wings began to spin and sent forth two twisters of air at Haou's set card. The card instantly shattered upon being hit.

"Good move. The card I had set was Justi-Break." Haou revealed. "If you had attacked, it would've really cost you."

"I kinda figured you had set a Trap like that." Jaden replied. "Escuridao, attack Clayman! Dark Diffusion!"

Escuridao fired blades of blue energy from the weapon attached to his arm at Clayman. The stone-armored hero was cut to pieces that instantly shattered apart.

"Stratos, attack Haou directly!" Jaden ordered.

Stratos fired another blast of wind from his wings at Jaden's evil doppelganger. Haou quickly shielded himself using his arms, but his life points still went down to 2200.

"Not bad." Haou praised with a sinister grin. "But then I was expecting you to be this strong. It would've been a real letdown if you made this easy."

"I'll lay down a facedown and end my turn." Jaden announced. "It's your move."

"So far this duel is going pretty well for the Fusion Master." Clive observed.

"Yeah, but it probably won't last." Lena responded. "Jaden's evil twin there was just feeling him out during that last turn. I'm sure now he's going to get serious."

Haou drew his first card. "I activate one of the effects of Wicked City! Once per turn, I can take the Spell card, Dark Fusion from my deck or Graveyard and add it to my hand!"

"Dark Fusion? I've never heard of that card before." Hiroki spoke.

"It's basically an evil version of Polymerization that's used to summon Fiend-type Fusion Monsters." Blair explained. "But what it does best is create an evil version of a fusion that two or more monsters would normally create."

"I knew it! Haou is using the Evil Heroes in his deck." Aster deduced.

"You what comes next, Jaden. I activate the Spell card, Dark Fusion!" Haou announced. "From my hand, I fuse Elemental Hero Wildheart with Evil Hero Malicious Edge to summon Evil Hero Savage Edge!"

Wildheart appeared on Haou's side of the field along with a demonic warrior with dark-grey skin. He had black leather straps covering his torso and black bands with spikes. On the back of each of the demon's hands was a set of three narrow blades. A pointed blue crest covered the top half of the demon's face, and on his back was a large pair of blades that were almost like wings. At the same time that Wildheart and Malicious Edge appeared, a vortex of crackling black energy appeared on the ground in the center of the battlefield.

Haou's two Hero monsters were pulled into the vortex, and a pillar of crimson energy shot out of it a moment later. The energy quickly faded to reveal Wildheart in a new form. He had become more muscular, and hanging down around his waist was a tattered black cloth held in place by a black leather belt with a horned animal skull for a buckle. His hair had turned white and grew half way down his back, and covering his right shoulder was the white skull of some sort of fanged demonic animal. Spiked black leather bands covered the wild hero's upper and lower arms, and the back of his hands had gained the blades that had been on the back of Malicious Edge's. A mask similar to Malicious Edge's head crest covered the top half of the wilderness hero's face, but revealed a pair of savage yellow eyes. The fallen hero snarled to reveal a pair of sharp incisor fangs inside his mouth.

"So that's an Evil Hero, huh?" Lena observed.

"Yeah. Most of the Evil Heroes are pretty much normal Elemental Hero Fusions that have gone over to the dark side." Aster explained. "The frightening part is that there're actually a bit more powerful than their original versions."

"Just like Elemental Hero Wildedge, Evil Hero Savage Edge can attack all my opponent's monsters once." Haou continued.

"Maybe, but both Savage Edge and Escuridao have 2600 ATK." Jaden pointed out. "You could attack all my monsters, but you'd only destroy your own in the process."

At this, Haou chuckled. "You forget that the Evil Heroes are much stronger than their pathetic Elemental Hero counterparts for giving into darkness. When Savage Edge attacks, he generates an aura of terror that intimidates enemy monsters and causes them to lose 1000 ATK during the battle. Savage Edge! Cut Jaden's weak Heroes to pieces! Blades of Slaughter!"

"I activate my Trap, Negate Attack!" Jaden quickly announced, but when he pressed the button on his duel disk to activate his set card, nothing happened. "Huh? What's going on?"

Savage Edge gave off a black aura and his eyes glowed red as he charged at Jaden's two heroes. Both monsters flinched in fear seconds before Savage Edge slashed at them wildly with his blades. Moments later, Jaden's two heroes were cut to pieces that shattered into bits of light before hitting the ground. Jaden's life points took a heavy drop to 1200.

"Hey! How come I couldn't activate my Trap?" Jaden demanded to know.

"Oops. Guess I forgot to mention the other effect of Wicked City." Haou responded. "When an Evil Hero attacks, the opponent can activate Spell or Traps until after the Damage Step. Which means your Trap cards like Negate Attack, Draining Shield and Hero Barrier are completely useless to you."

"This the same way Haou got me when I dueled him." Blair told the others. "Because I couldn't use any Traps to block his attacks, it was impossible for me to defend myself."

"The Evil Heroes use more overwhelming force than the regular Elemental Heroes." Hiroki observed. "I'm not sure if even I could stand against that."

"What worries me is that I never saw all the cards that Jaden had when he used an Evil Hero deck." Aster revealed. "If Haou is using the same deck, then I'm sure he has a lot of surprises in store."

"Hold on mate, you're saying that the Fusion Master once used a deck like this?" Clive asked.

"There's something about this that you're not telling us, Phoenix." Lena deduced. "Mind letting us in on the secret?"

"Well… it's kind of a long story, and I'm sure you won't believe a lot of it. But I guess I might as well tell you." Aster began. "A few years ago back at the academy Jaden attended, there was an incident where Jaden's friend, Jesse Anderson was pulled into another dimension. Jaden, with few others and myself went to that dimension to save him. We ended up Dark World, the same place that the original field environment of this level was based on. Jaden ended up dueling a lot of the monsters of Dark World himself, and in the process a lot of our friends who had come with us ended up being lost… or at least that's what we thought at the time.

"The short version of the story though is that the trauma from those loses caused Jaden to give into the darkness within him and become a tyrannical ruler known as the Supreme King. As the Supreme King, Jaden became the ruler of Dark World and began slaughtering the people living in that dimension to create the Super Polymerization card. During that time, Jaden used the same deck of Evil Heroes that his virtual double is using now. It cost us a lot, but in the end we managed to turn Jaden back to his old self."

"So… the Fusion Master was really evil for a while?" Clive asked.

"Yeah. Jaden's not exactly proud of that time, even though everyone actually came out of the situation okay." Aster replied. "That's another reason why I was against Jaden dueling his evil self. I'm sure this is bringing back a whole lot of bad memories for him."

"I'll end my turn there." Haou announced. "You better put up a strong defense during your next turn. I don't want to kill you in this duel too quickly. I want to make you suffer as much as possible before you die."

"You really hate me that much, huh?" Jaden asked.

"Are you kidding? I despise you!" Haou told him. "Just looking at you makes me sick! That's why I'm not going to stop until I see you suffer and die the way you're suppose to!"

"…I think I'm starting to get what makes you tick." Jaden declared as he drew his next card. "I activate the Spell card, Spellbooks from the Pot! This card lets both of us draw three more cards from our decks. Next I activate the Spell, Fusion Sage to add Polymerization to my hand! Now I activate Polymerization and fuse Elemental Hero Avian with Elemental Hero Burstinatrix in my hand to summon Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!"

Avian and Burstinatrix appeared on the field behind Jaden and flew into a transparent vortex that had appeared in the air. Seconds later, Flame Wingman flew out of the vortex and down to the battlefield.

"And what are you expecting to do with just Flame Wingman?" Haou asked. "In case you forgot, he only has 2100 ATK."

"I also summon Neo-Spacian Grand Mole in Attack Mode!" Jaden announced. The brown space mole appeared on the field next to Flame Wingman.

"Wait! You're not!" Haou began to realize.

"That's right! I attack Savage Edge with Grand Mole!" Jaden announced. "And when Grand Mole battles another monster, I can return both him and that monster back to the hand!"

Grand Mole's shoulder armor folded up around his head to form a complete drill bit and he quickly burrowed into the ground. Soon after, a large hole formed beneath Savage Edge's feet and the fallen hero quickly fell into the earth, leaving Haou completely exposed to attack.

"Flame Wingman, attack Haou directly!" Jaden commanded. "Flame Shoot!"

Flame Wingman took aim at Haou with the dragonhead on his arm and shot a fireball at the evil double. Haou was hit and his life points took a steep drop to 100. As the smoke cleared, Haou looked at Jaden with a savage glare in his eyes.

"You're going to pay for that!" Haou declared.

"I end my turn." Jaden calmly announced.

"You know, Jaden doesn't really looked like he's freaked out by anything that's happened in this duel." Lena noticed. "It's more like he's trying to size the other Jaden up."

"You mean like he's trying to get into his head?" Clive asked.

"Yeah, something like that." Lena replied.

Haou drew his next card. "For my first move, I activate Mystical Space Typhoon and destroy that Negate Attack card of yours!" A small twister picked up on Jaden's side of the field and shattered the large card. "Next I activate the first effect of Wicked City and get Dark Fusion back from the Graveyard. Now I activate a Spell card call Grave Materials! This card lets me summon the materials my opponent used for a Fusion Summon to my side of the field, and the monsters I'm going to summon are Elemental Hero Avian and Elemental Hero Burstinatix!"

Avian and Burstinatrix reappeared on Haou's side of the field. At the same time, Jaden briefly glowed with a green aura and his life points climbed up to 2700.

"Of course using Grave Materials does have a drawback." Haou continued. "As compensation for stealing monsters from his Graveyard, my opponent gains 1500 life points. But then that works just fine for me. The more life points you have, the longer I can draw out your suffering."

"Looks like now we're gonna see the evil version of Flame Wingman." Clive realized.

"I activate Dark Fusion and fuse Avian and Burstinatrix to summon Evil Hero Inferno Wing!" Haou announced.

A crackling black vortex appeared in the middle of the battlefield and pulled Avian and Burstinatrix in. A split second later, a pillar of red flames shot out of the vortex into the sky. The flames quickly faded to reveal a woman with long green hair that stood up on end, wearing a red and grey bodysuit. She had a blue visor covering her eyes, and on her hands were large green-furred gloves with sharp white talons. A long flowing red half-skirt hung down behind her, and on her back was a pair of large black-feathered wings.

"I attack Flame Wingman with Inferno Wing!" Haou announced. "Infernal Blast!"

"But Flame Wingman and Inferno Wing have the same ATK!" Jaden pointed out.

"Not for long! I activate the Quick-Play Spell, Nemesis Clash!" Haou announced. "When an Evil Hero Fusion Monster attacks an Elemental Hero Fusion with the same materials, that Evil Hero gains 400 ATK points during the battle! Which means Flame Wingman is going down!"

As Inferno Wing flew towards Flame Wingman, Jaden's fused hero took aim his wicked counterpart and shot a fireball from his dragon headed arm. Inferno Wing was shot in the chest, but withstood the attack. The Evil Hero retaliated by firing a wave of blue flames at Flame Wingman. Jaden's hero was vaporized in an instant and his life points fell to 2300.

"You know what comes next, Jaden. Inferno Wing's effect kicks in and deals damage equal to Flame Wingman's ATK!" Haou announced. "Hell Backfire!"

Inferno Wing cackled as she blasted Jaden with another wave of blue flames. Jaden shielded himself with his arms as the flames burned his life points down to a mere 200.

"Now that the Battle Phase is over, the second effect of Nemesis Clash kicks in." Haou announced. "Both of us must discard our entire hand and draw three new cards. Which means you can't use Grand Mole to send Inferno Wing back to the deck like you did with Savage Edge. Now I'll lay down a facedown and end my turn. Let's see you did your way out of this grave, Jaden"

"I think I understand you now." Jaden told Haou. "You say you hate me, but you said before that you're also me. Which means the person you really hate is yourself!"

"What're you talking about?" Haou asked.

"Ever since you showed up, I've been trying to figure out why you want to kill me so much." Jaden responded. "At first I thought it was because the person who put you in this game programed you that way, but now I realize that the reason you hate me so much is because you're the me from a few years ago right after the incident from the other dimensions. Back then I really didn't like myself too much either because of what I was and the things I did as the Supreme King. It took me a while to come to terms with it. I'm sure that if I was in your position, I'd really want to kill me too."

"You have no clue what you're talking about!" Haou told him. "Now get on with your turn!"

"Fine with me." Jaden replied as he drew his next card. "I activate the Spell card, Ancient Rules and summon Elemental Hero Neos!"

Jaden's white hero of space appeared on the battlefield and crossed his arms. Inferno Wing scowled upon seeing Neos, as did Haou.

"You're the old me, Haou!" Jaden told him. "I beat you before years ago, and I'm going to beat you again!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I've been wanting to do an Elemental Hero vs. Evil Hero duel in a GX fanfic for quite a while now, and this story finally provided me with a way to do that. There was actually a time when I wanted to build an Evil Hero deck of my own, but the problem with that (besides the hard time I had trying to find all those rare Evil Hero Fusions) was that the archetype never really grew the way the Elemental Heroes did, plus there was never a good way to quickly add Dark Fusion to the hand. Maybe all that might've been different if Jaden had been the tyrannical Supreme King in the anime for just a little bit longer.

The final chapter is coming up, so stay tuned. In the meantime, please review and let me know what you think.


	16. Own Worst Enemy

**Author's Note:** At last we come to the final chapter of this story. I apologize for the delay. The online class I'm taking right now involves an internship, and I'm still trying to figure out a good way to balance everything so that I still have time to do some writing. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this last chapter, which will include two very special "guest stars" that will show up towards the end.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (or Strawberry Panic).

* * *

Chapter 15: Own Worst Enemy

"Neos, attack Inferno Wing!" Jaden commanded. "Wrath of Neos!"

"I activate my Trap, Draining Shield!" Haou announced. "This card blocks Neos' attack and gives me life points equal to his ATK!"

As Neos charged in to deliver a punch, a silver shield materialized on Inferno Wing's left arm. The wicked hero raised her shield and blocked Neos' punch. Soon after, Haou's life points rose back up to 2600.

"This duel just keeps going back and forth." Hiroki observed. "I can't figure out how this is going to turn out."

"Both Jaden and Haou seem pretty equally matched." Aster noted. "Though Haou seems to be the more aggressive player of the two. I think in the end, it'll depend on if Jaden can block Haou's next attack."

"So what happened to taking me down?" Haou asked. "Looks like you couldn't quite pull it off."

"I end my turn." Jaden calmly announced.

"Then it's time for me to finally take you down!" Haou declared as he drew his next card. "I activate the Spell E – Emergency Call to add Elemental Hero Sparkman to my hand! Next I activate the effect of Wicked City to return Dark Fusion back to my hand."

"Wait, you're not…!" Jaden began.

"Oh but I am. I'm going to summon one of the strongest Evil Heroes there is!" Haou announced. "I activate Dark Fusion and fuse Inferno Wing with Elemental Hero Sparkman and summon Evil Hero Shining Inferno Wing!"

An alternate version of Sparkman wearing a black bodysuit instead of a blue one appeared on the field next to Inferno Wing. A crackling black vortex appeared in the middle of the battlefield and pulled both heroes in. Seconds later, a pillar of blue flames shot up out of the vortex and quickly subsided to reveal Inferno Wing in a new form. Her hair had turned blonde and her bodysuit had become green. Silver armor covered the fallen hero's chest, and around her waist was a silver armored skirt that was open in the front. The visor covering Inferno Wing's eyes had turned red, and on each of her hands were silver mechanical gauntlets armed with gold talons. On her back was a large pair of red-feathered wings.

"Oh man! That thing looks bad." Lena declared.

"I guess we shouldn't be surprised by this. After all, both Flame Wingman and Elemental Hero Phoenix Enforcer have shining forms created by fusing with Sparkman." Aster pointed out. "It'd make sense for Inferno Wing to have one too. Of course considering how powerful Inferno Wing was to begin with, this form might be a little too over the top."

"In addition to having 2500 ATK along with all of Inferno Wing's original effects, Shining Inferno Wing gains 300 ATK for every Hero monster in my Graveyard." Haou continued. "Which means right now, her ATK shoots up to 4000! It's been fun, Jaden. But I'm going to burn away you and everything you stand for to ashes!"

"Go ahead and try." Jaden dared.

"You asked for it! Inferno Wing, destroy Neos and end this duel!" Haou commanded. "Infernal God Phoenix!"

Suddenly Shining Inferno Wing became completely covered in blue flames. The flames quickly grew and took the shape of a massive bird. The bird screeched and rose up into the air, coming down a moment later to strike Neos. Aster and the others watched in horror as Jaden and Neos were obscured by the resulting blue inferno. Haou laughed with maniacal glee, thinking that his hated opponent had finally been destroyed. When the flames finally began to subside though, Haou was shocked to find both Jaden and Neos still standing on the field. Jaden's life points had been untouched. With the attack over, Shining Inferno Wing returned to her original form and went back over to Haou's side of the field.

"What the… how the hell are you still alive?" Haou demanded to know.

"I used Necro Guardna's effect from the Graveyard." Jaden explained. "By removing him from play, I was able to negate Inferno Wing's attack."

"That was a close one." Clive declared as he let out a huge sigh of relief. "I think that battle almost gave me a heart attack."

"Dammit, why the hell won't you die?" Haou cursed as he stomped the ground. "Death is what you deserve for what you've done and what you are! You deserve to be wiped from the face of the earth!"

"That's what I thought once too." Jaden admitted. "I hated myself not just because of what I did during that time in Dark World, but also because of what I was… of what I am. I know I'm not a normal human. I guess I probably never was."

"Then that's all the more reason for you to die!" Haou told him. "I'll end my turn here! If you're smart, you'll pass your next turn and accept your death peacefully!"

"There's one big difference between you and me, Haou." Jaden told him. "For one thing, I've sort of learned to come to terms with the horrible things I did back in Dark World. But the other thing is that while you hate what you are, I've learned to accept it! I am the Supreme King, and I'm going to use the power I have to end this right now!"

Suddenly Jaden began to give off a black aura and his eyes turned bright gold before changing to the orange and teal eye color of Yubel. As Jaden pulled the next card from his deck, it made a sound like a sword being drawn from its sheath.

"I equip Neos with Sword of the Supreme King!" Jaden announced.

A large black sword dropped down from the red sky above and landed next to Neos with the blade sticking in the ground. The center of the crossguard was adorned with a round gemstone that resembled a red demonic eye. Neos drew the sword from the ground and slashed the air with it. The hero's eyes began to glow gold and his body started giving off a massive black aura.

"I can only equip Sword of the Supreme King to Neos or one of his other forms!" Jaden announced. "He also becomes unaffected by the effects of other monsters!"

"So what? His ATK is still only 2500." Haou pointed out.

"True, but when Neos attacks a monster with higher ATK while using the sword, that monster loses 2000 ATK!" Jaden announced. "Neos! Cut Shining Inferno Wing to pieces! Wrath of the King!"

Neos swung his new blade and sent forth a massive blade of black energy at Shining Inferno Wing. The blade cut the fallen hero in half and the remaining two pieces shattered to pieces. Neos' attack continued on and struck Haou, nearly knocking him to the ground and dropping his life points to 2100.

"You may have just destroyed one of my strongest heroes, but this duel's not over yet." Haou told him.

"Actually, it is." Jaden replied. "By sending Sword of the Supreme King to the Graveyard, Neos can make a second attack. I'm sorry. I'd really rather not do this, but…"

Before Jaden could finish, Haou suddenly let out a bitter laugh. "Oh go ahead. Strike me down right now! I'd rather have you kill me quickly instead of you giving me pity."

"I just wish there was something I could do to help you." Jaden replied. "But I guess… this is how it has to end. Neos, attack Haou directly! King's Sword Throw!"

Neos threw his sword and impaled Haou through the chest. As Haou's life points dropped to zero, he let out another cold laugh.

"It's weird… that I should be laughing right now." Haou remarked. "But then… maybe this is what I wanted all along… to die. And what makes it all sweeter… is that you Jaden… have to live with another death on your conscience."

With that, Haou's body shattered into blue polygons and the sword that was sticking through him vanished. Neos vanished as well, and in an instant the ruined city that had served as the stage of the duel changed into a vast empty space that seemed to go on forever. The ground beneath everyone's feet had become a grid of blue light that appeared to expand out as infinitely as the empty blackness all around.

"Simulation complete." Announced the female voice of the computer. "You may now exit."

With that, a large metal door materialized a few feet away from where the team was standing. The door opened to reveal a white light on the other side. Jaden, meanwhile, let out a sigh as his eyes returned to their usual brown.

"Guess it's finally over." Hiroki observed.

"Then what're we waiting for? Let's get the hell out of here." Lena told the others.

With that, most of the team headed for the door. Jaden meanwhile hung back for a moment and looked at the empty space where Haou had been standing only moments ago.

"You okay?" Yubel asked as she appeared next to him.

"I guess so. I just wish there was something I could've done for Haou." Jaden replied.

"I don't think there was anything you could've done." Yubel told him. "In the end, Haou didn't have the thing you had that would've helped him get over your dark past."

"And what thing was that?" Jaden asked.

"Your friends." Yubel answered. "And me, of course. Now c'mon. Let's get out of here."

"Right." Jaden replied, and with that he headed for the final door after the others.

* * *

After passing through a tunnel of white light, Jaden opened his eyes and found that he was back inside the simulation pod at the lab. The hatch of the pod opened on its own, allowing Jaden to exit. At that moment, Blair and the others were getting out of their respective pods as well. As soon as Hiroki was out, he quickly ran to one of the doors.

"Where's he off to in such a hurry?" Jaden wondered.

"My guess is the bathroom." Clive deduced. "Good thing I had the foresight to go before we left."

"Hey Jaden?" Blair spoke, getting his attention. "Thanks for going in there to save me."

"Don't worry about it. I'd do just about anything for a friend." Jaden told her.

At that moment, Alec entered the room. "Thank goodness you've all come out safely."

"That was a pretty challenging simulation, Dr." Aster told him. "But I don't think that this device is safe for academy use. At least not yet."

"I am forced to agree." Alec replied. "You should all know though that the final enemy you faced in the simulation wasn't installed by me."

"We kinda figured that." Jaden informed him. "He pretty much told us what he was when we met, though he said he had no idea who put him into that game. All he knew was that he wanted to destroy me."

"And you handled him quite well." A voice remarked. Jaden and the others looked to see Kaiba entering the room. "We were able to watch your duel with that digital copy of you from here. It takes a skilled duelist to recognize his own weaknesses, and that's what helped you win that duel. For a bush league pro duelist, I have to admit you're not bad. You're certainly better than that deadbeat, Wheeler."

"Uh, thanks." Jaden replied.

"Wow! Praise from the great Seto Kaiba himself." Clive observed.

"Guess Jaden really is pretty powerful if someone like Kaiba is willing to admit he's good." Lena remarked.

"Mr. Kaiba, do you know who it was who put that copy of Jaden into the simulation?" Aster asked.

"The culprit was a mercenary calling herself Lamia." Kaiba answered. "She infiltrated this facility by posing as Flynn's new assistant. My people are still trying to find information on her, but all we know is that someone had hired Lamia to install that A.I. in order to kill Jaden Yuki."

"Do you know who that someone is?" Jaden asked.

"She wouldn't say." Kaiba answered. "But I assure you that whoever it was will pay for trying to use my company for his own twisted ends."

"Looks like we have a new enemy to worry about." Yubel observed as she appeared behind Jaden. "And whoever it is, it's probably a safe bet that he'll try again."

"Until I find out who Lamia is working for, the best thing all of you can do is going back to doing what you were before." Kaiba told them.

"In that case, I guess I better get back to the academy." Blair decided.

"I'll make sure she get's back safe." Aster volunteered. "Jaden, it was nice seeing you again."

"Same here." Jaden replied.

"You be careful out there." Aster told him, and with that that he and Blair left the room.

"I guess the rest of us should go back to the city for now." Clive decided.

"Good idea." Jaden agreed. "It's been a pretty long day."

* * *

It was morning, and Jaden was watching the sunrise by the same boardwalk railing he had leaned against the day before right when he bumped into Hiroki and Clive. His mind was very much on the conversation with Kaiba from yesterday about who had installed Haou into the simulator.

"Trying to figure out who wants you dead now?" Yubel asked as she appeared next to him.

"I'm drawing a total blank on who it is." Jaden replied. "Unless it's another incarnation of the Light of Destruction, I don't know who else would want to kill me."

"It has to be a new enemy we've never met before." Yubel assumed. "Unless…"

"Unless what?" Jaden asked.

"…No, forget it." Yubel responded. "There was someone I thought of, but it's pretty unlikely it's him. Forget I even mentioned it."

"Jaden? Is that you?" a voice interrupted.

Jaden turned around, and standing a few feet behind him was a young woman with red hair and reddish eyes. She had on a denim jacket with a pink top and a denim skirt and red sneakers, and hanging from her left shoulder was a purple bag. Jaden recognized the young woman as one of his friends from St. Miator Duel Academy, Nagisa Aoi.

"Hey Nagisa!" Jaden greeted as he walked over. "It's been a while. What brings you to Miami?"

"Shizuma and I are just passing through." Nagisa answered. "How 'bout you?"

"I'm pretty much just passing through too." Jaden answered. "So I take it that you and Shizuma are doing pretty good?"

"Yeah, though it was pretty awkward when I introduced her to my parents a while back." Nagisa admitted. "When we came to visit, my mom had invited over this guy that she wanted to set me up with."

Jaden suddenly got the sinking feeling that he had heard this story before. "So who was this guy exactly?"

"Just someone I went to school with before attending Miator." Nagisa answered. "He's a nice guy, but obviously not my type. Fortunately my parents were okay with Shizuma, so it turned out okay in the end."

"And… what about the guy your mom tried to set you up with?" Jaden asked.

"He didn't really take it very well that I was seeing Shizuma." Nagisa replied. "He even challenged Shizuma to a duel right there and got creamed. It was kind of a stupid thing to do. I mean Shizuma's beaten Seto Kaiba."

"This guy wouldn't happen to be named Hiroki, would he?" Jaden asked, though he was pretty sure he knew answer already.

"Actually, yeah. How'd you know?" Nagisa asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, well. Jaden Yuki." A familiar voice interrupted before Jaden answered. "This certainly is a nice little surprise."

Walking up to Jaden and Nagisa was a strikingly beautiful young woman with long silver hair and golden eyes that seemed to give her an heir of mystery. She had on a black leather jacket with a white t-shirt, along with brown jeans and a pair of black boots. Over her left shoulder she carried a large blue bag. Jaden recognized the young woman as Nagisa's girlfriend, Shizuma Hanazono.

"Hi Shizuma." Jaden greeted. "Nagisa and I were just catching up. So you and her are just passing through?"

"Yeah, we're on our way to see some friends of mine." Shizuma answered. "So what brings you here?"

"Jaden Yuki!" a familiar voice cut in. Jaden instantly recognized it as Hiroki's.

"Oh boy." Jaden sighed.

"You and I still have a score to settle! And I'm not leaving this city until…" Hiroki stopped midsentence when he noticed Shizuma. "YOU!"

"Here we go again." Yubel remarked as she rolled her eyes.

"So we meet again at long last, Shizuma Hanazono!" Hiroki continued. "Once I defeat Jaden Yuki, I'll take you on and finally have my revenge!"

"Do I know you?" Shizuma indifferently asked, causing Hiroki to trip over backward.

"How dare you insult me by pretending to not know who I am?" Hiroki responded as he quickly got back up. "I am your one true nemesis and rival, Hiroki Kitami!"

"…Oh right, you're Nagisa's little school friend." Shizuma recalled after a moment. "So how've you been doing?"

"You can mock me all you want, but there's no escaping your fate, Hanazono!" Hiroki declared. "This day I will defeat you!"

"Hiroki, what're you doing?" Nagisa asked.

"Oh! Uh… Nagisa!" a suddenly flustered Hiroki responded upon noticing the redhead. "I uh… I didn't expect to see you here."

"Where else would I be?" Nagisa asked. "Now if you don't mind, Shizuma and I have somewhere to be pretty soon, and I'm sure Jaden does too. Can you challenge them another time?"

"I… well… I suppose so." Hiroki replied. "Hanazono, because it is Nagisa's wish, I will spare you and Jaden Yuki for today. But don't think that this is over! One day I will defeat both of you!"

With that, Hiroki walked off trying to look as composed as possible. Nagisa let out a sigh once he was gone.

"I'm sorry if Hiroki caused you any problems, Jaden." Nagisa told him.

"Actually, he was pretty helpful with this one problem I was having earlier." Jaden revealed.

"That's good." Nagisa replied. "Hiroki may be a little bit hotheaded sometimes, but he really is a good person. I sort of think of him as the brother I never had."

"Explains why Shizuma doesn't seemed threatened by him." Yubel remarked.

"Nagisa, we should probably get going if we want to catch our flight." Shizuma told her. "It was nice seeing you again, Jaden."

"Nice seeing you guys again too." Jaden replied. "Catch you later, I guess."

"Later." Nagisa replied, and with that she and Shizuma left.

"Well that was kind of entertaining." A familiar voice remarked. Jaden looked back and saw Lena standing a few feet away with Clive. "Now I know why that drip got so bent out of shape about those duel academies on Astraea Island. He's even more pathetic than I thought."

"How long have you guys been there?" Jaden asked.

"Just long enough to see ol' Hiroki make a fool out of himself again." Clive answered.

"Anyway, I'm going to be heading out of this city soon, so I just wanted to track you down real quick to say goodbye." Lena told Jaden. "Maybe we'll have a chance to duel each other one day."

"I look forward to that." Jaden replied.

"I'm heading out too, Fusion Master." Clive informed him. "It was great seeing you again."

"You too, Clive." Jaden replied.

With that, Lena and Clive headed off, each going in their own direction. Jaden meanwhile resumed looking out over the sea.

"Hey Yubel, I don't know who this new enemy is, but until he strikes again I'm just going to keep doing what I have been." Jaden told her. "And right now I'm still really looking forward to that tournament in New York."

"I guess there's really nothing we can do about him until he strikes again." Yubel admitted. "I just hope we'll be ready for him when he does."

* * *

It was towards evening as Lamia entered a dark dreary bar in St. Louis. The air inside the bar was thick with cigarette smoke as she walked in, and a pair of unsavory-looking men who looked like they belonged to some biker gang was playing at the pool table in the center of the room. An old rock song was playing on the old jukebox in the bar. Lamia ignored all these things though and went straight towards a table in a dark corner of the bar. A man was already sitting at the table, and though the darkness obscured his face Lamia knew exactly who he was.

"So Lamia, I trust you have some significant news if you've asked to meet in person." The man at the table deduced.

"I do." Lamia confirmed as she sat down. "I regret to inform you sir that Jaden Yuki survived the trap we set using Dr. Flynn's simulator."

"…I see." The man replied.

"I take full responsibility for this outcome, sir." Lamia continued. "I'm sorry to have failed you, Commander Viper."

Lamia's commander, Thelonius Viper, leaned forward enough for the dim light of the bar to show his features. Though the features of his face made him look as though he was from some region in India, his skin was extremely pale. His dark hair, meanwhile, formed a pronounced point towards the front.

"No Lamia, the fault is mine for deciding to leave this to automation." Viper told her. "I had thought that a copy of Jaden Yuki would have been the best opponent to defeat him, but in the end I suppose I copy can never outdo the real thing."

"What do we do now sir?" Lamia asked.

"Now we execute Plan B, which I suppose should've been Plan A to begin with." Viper answered. "Contact Hudson and Patterson. We're going to need them for this operation."

"It will be done, sir." Lamia assured him.

"In the end, this is how it should be." Viper decided. "This time Jaden Yuki and Yubel will die, and it will be by my own hands!"

FIN

* * *

 **Afterward:** This I hope successfully concludes this story. I hope that the final duel didn't fizzle out too quickly for anyone. It was certainly nice to return to work on this GX series for a bit. Back when I had started out as a fan fiction writer, I had thought that I would be doing a lot more work with this project. The way the GX anime ended left the series open for additional stories, and I had thought I would've done a lot more of those stories than I have now. But as I wrote more, this series became eclipsed by other ideas and projects that ended up being a lot bigger than I originally thought they would. Plus a lot of the GX story ideas I'd have would never make it out of the starting gate. I'm glad this one did though, and I'd like to thank everyone who read, followed, favorited or reviewed this story. The response I've gotten has simply been wonderful.

Of course I'm obviously far from done with this little GX fanfic series of mine. This particular story is kind of a two-parter, and the villain of part two has already been revealed. So everyone keep your eyes peeled.

Jaden Yuki will be back in **Viper's Grudge**

As for the Legendary Planets showing up throughout this little series, all that will come to a head in a third GX/Strawberry Panic crossover that I've been planning on and off. I've also been tossing around the idea of doing a spinoff crossover story that follows Shizuma and Nagisa as duelists. So this project is far from done, though I am going to take a little break from it. For one thing, I have a couple of other stories that I should probably get back to. Plus there's still a bunch of stuff I need to do for my online class. I will be back though, so keep your eyes peeled.

In the meantime, please review and let me know what you think.


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